In The Light
by Mizu79
Summary: Due to some unforeseeable events, Hinata Hyuga and Sasuke Uchiha are both imprisoned in a cell together. The bonds that form from their captivity are formidably unbreakable and freedom is but a breath away. SasuHina.
1. Chapter 1 : Captured

_**Warning** : This story contains extremely graphic and gory depictions of torture and death, sexual content, and dark themes. Read at your own discretion. Also, I haven't watched Naruto episodes since the chunin days and it has been ages and don't plan to watch since my schedule is pretty booked so I'm basing most of it on imagination and what I've read so if Sasuke's capture seems a bit odd it's because this was written before I knew about his god like abilities and such ! :) I've done little (very little) research on his abilities to adapt into this story so forgive me if it doesn't add up! I write for fun so don't take this too seriously. _

Chapter 1 : Captured

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Drip.

Drop.

Drip.

Drop.

Drip.

Drip.

A stained metal door flung open and slammed noisily against the cement walls with a sharp crack before stilling restlessly, aimlessly onto the back wall. The slow haunting creaks resounded inside the empty cells when dark shadows flickered eerily from the dimly lit stairway. Two figures descended from the dungeon stair steps while dragging a struggling woman with them in long strides, uncaring of the woman's pained protest and useless attempts to free herself from their restraint.

Her long obsidian hair was matted to her face from the blood that smeared her cheeks and chin in long streaks. The thick liquid dripped down dark sooty lashes and colored her pale alabaster skin maroon in ghastly and grotesque streaks.

"The little bitch is _useless_ now." One of the bigger woman with straining muscles commented in annoyance, her lips had pursed into an ugly frown as she threw the little woman mercilessly onto the cold hard floor, watching the thing tremble and suppress a choked gasp of pain. If she had a little bit of extra time, she would have definitely spat on the pitiful thing.

Disgusting _and_ useless.

"Tsk. Such a _waste._ " The other woman responded as their footsteps quickly ascended the stair steps after slamming the metal doors closed and leaving the petite woman crumpled on the floor behind them. They doubted that even if the doors were left open, the useless thing would even be able to get out by herself.

 _Pathetic._

Gradually, their voice became smaller and smaller the further they became, heavy footsteps finally no longer as loud before disappearing completely.

Silence soon engulfed the empty cell.

The only sound to be heard was the gaspy inhale and exhale that the woman exerted. The petite woman had slowly managed to pull herself upright after several moments, delicate fingers curled into the cold ground while thick lashes fluttered as delicate shoulders heaved and suppressed the pitiful sobs that threatened to wrack her small form.

She forcefully swallowed down the rest of her turgid emotions with sharp gasping breaths, unfurling her fingers before turning her head slightly with dainty brows furrowed to slowly regard the small room that she was now trapped in.

She could smell the scent of blood, her own and several others, along with the scent of sweat and musk. Some stale and some barely hours old.

 _Where had they taken her? What would they do with her?_

The whispering of her fate resounded in her ears and she couldn't help but ponder her situation.

 _What would become of her now?_

She dragged her tired legs upwards and curled in on herself. The woman heaved a sigh while the bow of her lips curled as she frowned before wiping her face cleanly with the sleeve of her torn shirt, trying her best to clean off the blood from her face. Her sweat and tears helped to clean most of the maroon substance from her cheeks and chin, enough to make her features more visible.

 _No doubt her teammates would be unable to track her down_ , she thought.

They had been undoubtedly injured in the intense fight with these women before she was captured.

The only thing she could do now was preserve her energy and wait for her chance to escape.

Though, she was terrified that they would just let her rot down here now.

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The minutes crept into hours before she heard heavy footsteps descend the stair steps, two sets of feet and the sound of something being dragged down.

 _Something terrifying._

Her head tipped upwards, long hair brushing her cheeks when she could feel the coldness of another much wider and stronger aura pulse and brush along her own in untamed pulses like the beating of a heart.

She vaguely realized that she knew this aura, had been in contact with it before, but her mind could not conjure up a name; none the less a face.

 _Who could it possibly be?_

The aura was dark and lethal, so very deadly and dangerous with the burn of fire left in its wake like a spreading _disease_ that could not be contained.

She could smell hints of _lightning_ and _smoke_ and knew that she had encountered it several times in her life, but somehow, she drew a blank when it came to a name or any physical features.

Who had an affinity with lightning or smoke that she had known? Suddenly, her memory was jolted when a man's image was conjured in her mind's eye, with the feel of something dark and twisted like a scary nightmare that no one could wake up from.

There was no one other than- - ** _Sasuke_**.

 _ **Uchiha** **Sasuke**._

He was dragged pitifully across the hard ground with sizzling noises that seemed surreal, passed her trembling form and leaving behind the sharp scent of freshly spilt blood and pungent sweat.

She could hear the sounds of metal dragging against the cold cement ground before a clink and snap ended it.

 _Chains._

They had chained the last Uchiha up a few feet away from her. She swallowed down a gulp of saliva and felt her fingers dig into the soft skin of her sweaty palms like sharp needles into the flesh.

"It looks like you have a new cell mate, Uchiha. Don't get _too_ attached." The startling voice spoke out of nowhere when the obsidian haired woman swiveled around only to hear the sounds of their footsteps slowly move up the stairs and faint dark chuckles that quickly disappeared with their descent.

So her assumptions had been right.

Her new cell mate is _the_ Sasuke Uchiha.

The man that most, if not _all_ , nins considered to be _dangerous_. Formidably so. He could cut her down before she could even blink an eye or open her mouth to beg for her life pathetically before him. She doubted she could have swayed him with her pathetic pleas. Her body shuddered at the sudden realization of how scary and terrifying it _really_ is to be stuck in the same cell as _Uchiha Sasuke._

 _She was trapped inside a cell with him._

Just the thought made cold sweat drip down the side of her face.

While she was busy trying to recall all that she could remember of him, she didn't realize that his dark eyes had suddenly snapped to her trembling body. He was silently perusing her damaged form, black eyes smoldering as the hairs on the back of her neck rose to attention at the possible danger. She could _feel_ the burn of his stare like a hot iron brand on her face.

His dark thick brows knitted slightly, long fingers curling into bleeding palms when a repugnant frown made way onto his stony face.

Sasuke clearly didn't recognize the woman before him.

Long blue black hair framed a pretty pale face while bulky clothes hid her figure from his view.

His eyes narrowed.

 _Not once had the girl opened her eyes._

The tears of blood left unsightly streaks against the pale porcelain face while long black lashes fluttered frantically like the wings of a butterfly across high cheekbones.

He leaned back against the wall and opted to ignore his new cell mate. The pitiful thing truly wasn't even _worthy_ of his perusal or time.

The awkward silence immediately ensued as she bit her lip to keep from saying something idiotic.

"U-Uchiha-san?" She finally whispered softly, mentally berating herself as she couldn't contain the stutter of his surname.

He didn't respond.

She didn't expect him to after all, but the feeling of disappointment still managed to sway her from speaking again. Silence had always been her companion but somehow she found that the uncomfortable atmosphere between them was almost stifling until she could get her words across to him, to greet him properly.

 _They knew each other._

She couldn't just act like they didn't because the manners and discipline that had been instilled into her at a young age would never let her be so rude and ill-mannered.

Petite fingers twined the fabric of her shirt, over and over again until her mouth opened and closed as if to say something before deciding otherwise, almost resembling a fish floundering around on the shore.

There were soft pitter-patters of liquid hitting the floor that had not been there before and she could clearly smell the overwhelming metallic scent of his blood coat the room in shades of red and black.

He was _bleeding_.

Large amounts by the sound of it and she couldn't help but feel her chest tighten in pain for him.

 _What had those woman done to him? Had they tortured him? Hurt him the way they had hurt her?_

His lips pursed as he contemplated the situation. The girl seemed vaguely familiar but not enough for him to put a name to her face.

If he had known her, she wasn't significant enough for him to actually remember.

She was weak, docile and, from the looks of it, _blind_.

"I-I don't know if you re-remembered, Uchiha-san, but I am Hinata Hyuga. W-we went to school together." She tried to contain most of her stutter but was unable to from the anxiety and stress of actually carrying a conversation with the notorious Uchiha; even thought, it was mostly one sided. Never in a million years would she even imagine herself speaking to him but yet one of her wildest nightmares has became a reality.

 _Hyuga?_

Hyuga.

The corner of his mouth turned downwards in a displeased frown.

"Hn." He acknowledged her slightly with the grunt as she beamed a wide smile his way, extremely happy that Sasuke had even managed to remember her because she doubted anyone else from their class would have.

Sasuke glanced at her with dark eyes narrowed, watching her changing expressions like a hawk watching its prey, analyzing every movement from her to assess her minimal abilities.

He was glad the little Hyuga bitch was _blind_. It was nice to know that she wouldn't be able to see the state that he was in or else she would just be another name on his black list to be killed once he got out of here.

There was _already_ too many on his list.

Sasuke shifted slightly, reopening the wound on his side with a barely contained hiss of pain that brought an array of blood to start dripping down his leg and calf.

Had the Hyuga been able to see, she would be graced with the image of his naked flesh chained to the cold wall before her eyes.

Old and new blood caked his wounds from those demonic women's torture on his body.

There were several cuts and scratches all across his body, chunks of flesh missing from various limbs, some festering infection and others trying to heal before the torture would start again. Even the burn wounds that were cut off when those vile women had decided to _taste_ his cooked flesh seemed sinister and ghastly. There were wounds on top of wounds that refused to heal and the women didn't leave him alone long enough for it to have the chance to recover.

"I-I'm glad you r-remember," she softly whispered, eyes down cast as if in thought. Truthfully, she was comforted by the fact that there was someone here with her to help ease the fear of being alone, even if the person happened to be an extremely lethal nin.

She knew him to be dangerous, her insides still trembled at being in such close proximity to him, but Hinata couldn't help but feel as if she could _trust_ him; after all, they were currently in the same predicament. If he wanted to kill her, he would have done it seconds ago when those women had left him with her.

 _She was too trusting._

Hiashi, her father, had said that her trusting and gullible nature would be her _downfall._

 _Father did know best._

"Did they blind you, Hyuga?" He finally stated, voice raspy and husky in quality yet still velvety and deep to her ears as goosebumps colored her flesh pink in hue. Hinata wasn't quite too sure why she reacted slightly differently from hearing his gravelly voice.

"N-no. I-I did that myself." She nervously chewed on her lower lip, pearl white teeth peeking from pale pink lips as the memory of what had happened flashed through her head.

 _Smart girl,_ he mused.

Hinata fumbled with her fingers, head down turned with a thoughtful look on her pale face.

She had blinded herself in self preservation. A gentle fist straight to the temple had shattered a lot of major parts in her eyes like the shattering of thin glass once it hit the hard ground. The pain had been immense and her whole face still throbbed like no other; even though, the major chakra pathways in her eyes had shut down in order to preserve what else left that would be salvageable.

She had damaged more than 90 percent of her eyes but left the 10 percent for recovery in hopes of managing to escape from her kidnappers. Hinata had persevered and cut down damage so that she had a way to heal herself when given the opportunity to escape. She just had to make them think she was useless and incapable of anything.

Her injury looked far worse than what it actually was and she was sure to make herself look to be far too broken and damaged for any hopes of being healed or used. Her captors had actually been tricked because of it and for that, she was thankful.

After several more moments of silence, her eyelids strained before wide grey lavender eyes met his vision, blood seeping again as she tried to see him through broken vision.

He had thought that they had took her eyes, the highly coveted jewel of the Hyuga clan, since he had anticipated seeing nothing but her eye sockets, empty and desolate, from all the blood that was staining her face.

 _Tsk, how disappointing._

From what he noted though, her eyes were _useless_. Perhaps, she had damaged herself past the point of recovery and he wondered what her fate would be if her clan knew her situation.

 _Would they take her eyes themselves?_

Nonetheless, her eyes seemed to lighten her physical features, wide pupil-less orbs engulfed her face and made her seem even more girl than woman.

Too _innocent_ and _trusting._

"A-Are you al-alright Uchiha-san?" Her dainty eyebrows knitted in worry as her tongue lathed her cracked lips in slow swipes.

He glanced at her from the corner of his vision, wondering where the sudden concern came from. Sasuke knew for a fact that they didn't know each other enough for her to be acting like she cared, in fact, no one knew him well enough to _pretend_ to care.

 _He didn't need it._

"Hn." Came his slight grunt. His pride and honor came first before these deeply inflicted wounds.

It was obvious that he didn't want to tell her his true condition and she finally remembered that they were never that close before. She had never even shared one word with the man that was her cell mate and never in her wildest imagination would she think that there would be a day that they would even carry a conversation; none the less, be stuck in each others presence.

Hinata blinked slowly before wiping her cheeks and eyes again, smearing the thick liquid across her high cheekbones and jaw.

This time the silence seemed almost comfortable as they wafted in the melancholy.

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A/N : I couldn't help but start another story. My other SasuHina stories are still being written so don't worry! In the Light has been on my mind for a while so here's to the beginning!


	2. Chapter 2 : Cold

Chapter 2 : Cold

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Dark charcoal colored eyes partially opened as the last Uchiha eyed the slight annoyance that was his cell mate.

She had curled up into herself hours ago and laid in fetal position in the middle of the cell, trying to retain warmth as the air became frosty as the time continued to pass.

Her face had gone deathly pale, delicate fingers white and lips barely colored as she trembled and shivered before him like an ill shaped _corpse._ Her teeth clattered together every couple of minutes but since the last five it was constantly grating on his nerves.

Being an Uchiha had a lot of benefits, especially being that most of his clan members had an affinity to fire; therefore, their body temperatures were much more higher than others of the same height and build.

He wouldn't have been able to survive nights sleeping outside in the snow and blizzard-like weather without his affinity and it looked like the Hyuga had no such luck.

The cold air was nothing but a slight spring breeze to him, but it was slowly causing the Hyuga girl to go into hypothermia.

 _He didn't care._

She was nothing but a nuisance and an annoyance to him. Had she still had her sight or the Byakugan, he would have attempted to keep her alive until she outlived her purpose in hopes of using her to escape, but she had none of that now.

She was _useless_.

 _Worthless._

Perhaps, their captor was waiting for her to slowly die out just to torture him with the stench of her dying corpse. He would have to put up with her dead body rotting away and the maggots squirming across decaying flesh until she was nothing except for white bones and pupil-less eye sockets or how ever long he would still be stuck here to see the process.

His nose wrinkled in disgust. It wasn't as if this cell smelled any better but he didn't want to push his luck.

"Hyuga." He near barked out his annoyance when her opalescent eyes groggily turned to his direction, jaw clenching as she tried to stop them from chattering noisily in hopes of not agitating him any further.

"H-hai, Uchiha-san?" Her throat was terribly dry and lips cracked to the point that blood had spilled and crusted over hours ago. She knew that she had angered him somehow. His aura had quickly became rather hostile, not that he wasn't that way in the beginning, but now it seemed to hum in a rather menacing way, almost as if snapping out in irritation at her.

 _She annoyed him._

"Come here." He firmly ordered as she slowly maneuvered herself into a sitting position, legs slightly numb from the hours spent in the same position to preserve warmth.

" _Wh-what_?" She squeaked more than spoke, wiping her face to rid of the grogginess in case she had heard him wrong.

Had she _irritated_ him enough that he wanted to _kill_ her now?

Hinata whimpered in distress, fingers curling into her palm as short nails bit sharply into her delicate flesh.

"Come here _now_ unless you want to _die_ of hypothermia," he said, watching as the emotions flitted past her face in an array from confusion to fear then to anxiety and distress.

This girl wasn't _anything_ like her predecessors, he deemed.

Hyuga's were known for their cunning, calculating, and icy cold countenance, yet here she was the complete opposite with a shy, meek, and innocent demeanor. She wore her emotions on her sleeves and constantly stuttered as if she was 10 years old.

He was _annoyed_. The word annoyed was being used rather lightly here.

Hinata contemplated his words, dull teeth biting into the insides of her cheek.

"Hyuga. I don't want to have to deal with your corpse," he warned, voice low and menacing as his words finally spurred her into action.

 _He scared her._

She tried to stand but found herself unable, knees dragging on the ground before she decided just to crawl to him instead. The act itself was degrading, pitiful and rather embarrassing as she knew that he was watching her every move with eyes far more advanced than others.

In her mind's eye, Hinata could see his aura, palpable and warm like a cup of warm cocoa in the middle of a snow ridden blizzard.

Hinata was still mulling over her own thoughts. Did she want to die slowly from hypothermia or come into close enough range that the last Uchiha could easily kill her without a moments notice?

Hinata opted that she would rather die warm than cold and so she slowly made way to him, albeit more hesitantly as if she was making way to her death. She wanted to prolong it as long as she possibly could, working her heart into over drive at the possibilities of what could happen.

His eyes narrowed.

Even without her speaking, Sasuke could easily see that she kept her guard up. Her hands wavered and trembled heavily the closer she came to him, but it was needed in order for her to find her way towards him without the help of her vision.

She was a _pathetic_ sight to see.

Slowly crawling across the dirty ground with her head tipped downwards, long clusters of silken hair brushing the floor of dirt and dried blood.

Before long, her hands had tentatively reached forward and cold fingertips butted against the flesh of his thigh and grazed his knee with a light touch. Her pale cheeks were quick to blush red, almost matching the color of her blood before she recoiled as if burned from just that slight contact. Which in a way was almost correct as he seemed to emit a lot more heat than she was used to.

Along with the heat, was the slight spark of lightning and electricity that shocked her when her fingers had brushed his warm skin.

She had never been in close proximity with him in the past, not enough to actually touch his naked flesh and she was slightly dumbfounded at the situation. Hinata barely contained a squeak of surprise as soon as her jumbled thoughts managed to collect themselves.

If the touch was anything to go by then she knew that Uchiha Sasuke was definitely _naked_ and _chained_ up against the wall like some sort of _animal_.

That or he was wearing some rather short shorts, which was highly improbable for a man of his stature. Hinata nervously swallowed as she felt him squat down to her level before sitting fully onto the cold ground, narrowly seated on the puddle of dark blood that had collected beneath him. His hot breath fluttered past her freezing temple, warming her chilled face when he glanced downwards at her stiff countenance.

The chain rattled and stretched taunt to its full limit as he pulled his aching limbs downwards, resting his hands onto his knees as he couldn't get his hands to touch from the confinement.

His entire body towered over the petite Hyuga, caging her with his much bigger 6'5 form.

Sasuke duly noted that the girl was fairly petite, barely filling the space as he lowered his legs on both sides of her. She had immediately stiffened in response to their proximity, back stiff and straight while dark lashes fluttered in slight discomfort.

His hot breath fluttered the hair at the top of her head and Hinata felt herself warm almost instantly as if sitting next to a small furnace or heater of some sorts.

They were almost a hairs width away from actually touching and he bemusedly noted that the Hyuga was sitting in seiza style, back taunt like an outstretched bow while arms were perched onto her lap. Her eyes were staring straight forward in shock or disbelief, he didn't know. She acted as if she was about to perform a tea ceremony or entertain some guests as the host while in actuality, she was confined in this cell with him.

 _Tsk._

Sasuke found it rather unnerving the way she was as still as a corpse, the only indication that she was alive was the soft puffs of warm air that pillowed against his naked chest at each exhalation of her breath. He clicked his tongue in annoyance before finally reaching out, despite his dislike for touching others, and turned her body around, arranging her like a puppet as she trembled in his arms like a leaf in the wind. Sasuke's hands were dreadfully hot on her extremely chilled flesh, stinging her cold skin at the initial contact but she didn't mind in the least as her body warmed rather quickly because of his abnormally high body heat.

Hinata glanced at him through thick fuliginous lashes, head tipped upwards to gauge his aura before turning back and resting her straining eyes behind trembling lids.

Sasuke relaxed slightly now, back resting against the cold wall when her attention finally moved from his form.

He found it unnerving that even without her vision, her eyes still seemed to see right through him and that was much more irritating then the thought of her touching him.

Had she been one of his fan girls? He frowned.

 _No._

He didn't remember any Hyuga like her stalking him, but it certainly sparked a memory of an idiotic Hyuga girl with an unattractive bowl cut that followed the _dobe_ around, blushing and fainting rather entertainingly at every turn.

"You're the idiotic Hyuga that had a crush on the dobe." He stated pointedly as she frowned, an embarrassed expression forming on her previously calm features and warmed her cood cheeks. Oddly, his words managed to bring color to her deathly pale face.

"T-that was a-along time ago." She tried to justify lightly, almost indignantly with a stubborn tilt of her chin that made him slightly amused.

Hinata could feel bitterness taint her tongue as the old memories re-surfaced like an old reeling film that she could not stop with a simple button.

 _How could she forget?_

There was no relationship, had _never_ been any relationship.

Just solely misplaced one-sided feelings that didn't carry her very far when the blonde had chosen to _dismiss_ her feelings for that of brotherly and sisterly love. He didn't even give her room to protest, didn't even give her a _chance_ ; even though, she had adamantly confessed her feelings several times now. Once when she had sacrificed herself for him during the war and later, once again, thinking that he had been too injured to hear that confession of love. The third and fourth time was just a repeat where he refused to hear her out. She wasn't important enough for him to even _consider_.

It had almost felt like a backhand to the face and somehow it had been enough to snap her out of her trance.

Finally after years and years of waiting, she had received closure on these feelings, long after, when she fell out of love with him. This left her feeling oddly _bereft_ and _bitter_. Hinata had felt discontent. She had lost a hobby that had consumed a majority of her hours and it took her some time to readjust. Stalking him had been a consuming past time that was rather embarrassing to admit.

Perhaps, she had placed him onto a pedestal and worshiped him like a god and when she realized that he was just as human and prone to error as her, had her feelings fallen flat.

His numerous visits to the red light district and brothels with his sensei to supposedly ' _collect information_ ' had managed to dispel any of the allusions she had placed on him thereafter.

Hinata admitted that the rejection had hurt and she had cried for hours on end before collecting the pieces of her broken heart. She knew that she had no one to blame but herself for her adamant assumptions and blatant obsession.

 _She was young and terribly foolish._

The sharp pin pricks of pain that quickly spread from her legs and to her waist that pulled her back from the oddly bereft memories. Her legs had started to go numb from sitting in seiza style, back aching as she tried to keep herself still.

She didn't want to invade his space but her toes were going numb again and his body felt _so_ warm and inviting against her back.

Hinata's teeth bit down on her bruised bottom lip before she sagged tentatively, almost nervously against his strong chest while holding her breath for the inevitable.

 _He wouldn't chidori her off would he?_

Sasuke didn't move in the slightest when Hinata finally leaned her weight fully back into him with a strong exhale of relief that he hadn't _decapitated_ her yet for invading his personal space.

At their current proximity, she could feel every inhalation and exhalation against her back. Their only separation was the thin cotton of her shirt and just the thought made her swallow nervously at the scandalous idea.

Hinata was quick to start fiddling with the tattered sleeve of her shirt, bringing her hands onto her lap as she straightened her legs out from underneath her. She found his warmth was comforting, lulling her body into relaxation; although, her brain was sending her signals to run and escape at once from this highly skilled predator currently facing her back.

Hinata had learned from experience never to turn your back to a predator no matter how weak they are and she was assured that Uchiha Sasuke was _not_ weak. He could simply snap her neck without much effort and it was probably easy as breathing was for him.

She shivered unconsciously at the notion.

"Don't get too comfortable, Hyuga." He warned her, the vibrations of his words tickling her back as she stiffened lightly before sagging flaccidly against him.

She had never been so intimately pressed against a male like this before.

Not a _naked_ one that is.

Her cheeks seemed to burn like a spreading fire at the last thought.

 _What would father say if he knew?_ _Father couldn't blame her for trying to save herself, would he?_

She grimaced. Her fingers tightened, pricking the cotton of her shirt with her nails at the seemingly nerve wracking thought.

Sasuke sighed out in annoyance again, breath tousling her hair with every exhale while his warm flesh was intimately attached to her back.

 _Oh, how the mighty have fallen._

He _hated_ people touching him and yet here he was, letting the Hyuga press against him for warmth like some charitable volunteer at the local church.

The little Hyuga had stopped trembling now, going quiet for the last five minutes with a thoughtful look on her face as if in deep thought.

They were seated so close, he could smell the scent of her metallic blood and sweat covering the natural pleasingly light scent of some sort of foreign flower and vanilla.

At least she didn't smell _half_ bad, he mused.

He leaned back fully against the wall and closed his eyes as the Hyuga tilted backwards, long black hair sticking to his flesh and blood with a startled squeak at his sudden movement. Once readjusted, she curled further into his body and he almost hissed out as her elbow grazed the open wound at his side from the rapid sensation of pain and torture that enveloped him.

The Hyuga was oblivious to his pain as her head turned from side to side, lips pursed with a slight curve of her delicate brows as if wanting to say something but unable to form the words.

"A-Ano. Did they-they hunt you down too, U-Uchiha-san?" She whispered the words cautiously, not wanting to offend him, yet curious as to how those evil woman had managed to capture him, one of the _most strongest_ ninjas alive right now. It was _impossible_ right?

He didn't answer.

She patiently waited for almost seven minutes before swallowing the attempt at another verbal vomit.

He obviously wasn't asleep because she could tell from his strained breathing. Perhaps, he thought of her as a nuisance and didn't really deem her _worthy_ talking to.

"A-A- -They had specifically targeted me f-f-for my Byakugan." She tried to carry the conversation no matter the fact that she was never good at socializing or the fact that the person she was trying to converse with didn't reply.

Again no reply from him.

She felt dejected but continued to tell him the story, stuttering and waiting for him to say something or even tell her to shut up if he didn't want to hear her talk any longer.

But silence seemed to be his only reply.

Kiba, Shino and herself had been given a mission to deliver a highly important scroll to the Kage of a neighboring town when they were ambushed out of nowhere by those cruel women dressed in blood covered gowns the color of death.

These women were very powerful, bodies bulky and muscular even to that of a males. To her group's embarrassment, there was only one of the women that attacked, the other one just watched as the one played around with Kiba and Shino, who had tried to protect her from them.

It was obvious that her team mates and her were in no way even near the skill and power these women had. Only 5 minutes in and Shino had been heavily injured, hundreds of bugs laid scattered on the ground as he fought for his life.

The women had targeted her, stated that they wanted her 'pretty eyes' and Hinata had frozen up in fear, she tried to fight but the women were so much stronger.

Kiba and Shino had been adamant about helping her escape.

The other woman watching in the back finally came towards her and was blocked by Kiba. Shino managed to knock one of the other woman unconscious but not without sustaining some very serious damage.

Hinata couldn't help but grimace as she remembered all the blood that had stained the ground. Her shirt had been stained with both her teammates blood and she had not been able to do anything to help or save them.

Truthfully, Hinata was ashamed of herself.

She had been a _coward_.

She had _run_ instead of sticking to her team mates.

From the corner of her eye, she had seen the woman toss both Kiba and Shino behind her, blood had made the whole area gruesome to look at.

Eventually, they had caught her. But by then, she had already managed to completely blind herself, hurting a major blood vessel inside the eyes that made them useless even if these women decided to take them from her.

They had dragged her struggling body with them, one even stating that now that her eyes were useless they could use her as a brood mare in order to raise Byakugan eyed children before taking those eyes from them, except they didn't want to wait that long.

Which was highly improbable since the Byakugan was such a recessive trait that anyone without the doujitsu eyes, who dared to try to sire children with her, would be disappointed when the children came out being ordinary.

Why else would the Hyuga clan members be forced to breed within the same bloodline? Many married distant relatives or even their own cousins in order to sire strong children with the powerful traits. The Hyuga clan has always been attracted to power and anything but powerful Hyuga children would do.

The other dangerous woman had stated that they had to wait for their mistress to pass judgement to see if Hinata lived or died, especially now that she was nothing more than a useless piece of trash wasting their space and air.

Her eyes were beginning to fill with tears again as she remembered her predicament.

Sasuke shifted slightly, a barely audible sigh left his lips as he regarded the trembling girl who was starting to cry with slight sniffles here and there.

He hated dealing with crying women.

Crying is _weakness_ and this Hyuga was the _epitome_ of weak and docile.

"S-Sorry, U-Uchiha-san, I di-didn't mean t-to cry on you," she whimpered out, nearly audible words in between her attempts to hold back her sobs, shoulders heaving and trembling against his flesh. Sasuke's eyes opened and then narrowed at the lump of a girl between his legs, a slight annoyed frown marring his features.

"Hn." Came his slight grunt. Hinata felt as if this grunt from him meant something different.

Was he trying to comfort her? No. That wasn't it. Perhaps, he _pitied_ her.

Sasuke didn't even know why he was letting the pathetic Hyuga cry against him. He couldn't kill her at the moment as his hands were being chained back and his well of chakra was empty but even if his hands weren't bound, he didn't feel the urge to kill her like he had for many others.

He didn't have a _guilty conscience_.

Her death would mean _nothing_ to him.

She would just be another faceless corpse in his mind, the same corpse of the Hyuga girl that was sharing his cell and his body heat with wide innocent opalescent eyes and trembling lips.

He frowned.

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A/N : I can't believe how many reviews I got for this! :) Keep them coming my lovely kiwis as they motivate me a lot :)! A big thank you to every single person who reviewed, favorited, and followed! :)


	3. Chapter 3 : Their Meal

Chapter 3 : Their Meal

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Hup.

Hup.

Hup.

Hup.

Perhaps, he _would_ kill her after all.

Sasuke scowled.

He had managed to rest his eyes for a bit when the Hyuga started _hiccuping_ over and over and over again without rest.

It was one thing after another with this girl.

Her cheeks had flushed red in embarrassment, trembling in apprehension as she attempted to apologize only to hiccup in the middle as if it even mattered to him if she apologized or not.

He watched the Hyuga pinch her own hand in frustration, watched as her pale skin turned red.

"Breath, Hyuga." He stated the words calmly as she sagged against his chest trying to relax enough to stop the hiccups.

She always had the hiccups after crying. It was a terrible habit that she carried with her from childhood, nothing she did could stop them until they went away by themselves. She had tried almost everything, drinking water, holding her breath, hanging herself upside down. Nothing would make them go away.

Eventually, she quietly stilled against him to his relief. If it continued it longer, he would be very tempted to get rid of them for her.

And that, would be a gruesome sight.

Maybe dealing with the Hyuga's corpse would have been a better idea. He unconsciously flexed his right arm, feeling rather empty without his chakra and powers.

It had been over one week now that he was stuck in this cell, chained like some domestic animal, fed barely edible food and physically tortured for hours on end. Now, they decide to mentally torture him with this new cell mate that constantly got on his nerves. His patience was being grated down next to nothing the longer they were together.

His chest heaved a sigh as the Hyuga turned her head to press her cold cheeks against his chest, long lashes tickling his skin while delicate fingers curled against his arm in peaceful slumber.

Not many dared to even close their eyes on his watch as they feared him as much awake as they did asleep. He was the harbinger of _death_ and _decay_. People told their children stories about him to get them to behave and here the little Hyuga was cuddled up against him comfortably as if he was her favorite stuffed toy.

He was _not_ a stuffed toy to be cuddled against.

She sighed out in content against his skin, warm breath brushing against him when he heard her stomach gurgle as if she was hungry.

 _Curse his predicament._

Sasuke's eyes roamed towards the ceiling where a ruby red gem was embedded, power swirling within its depth that didn't go without notice.

The Hyuga obviously, with her weaker abilities, couldn't sense the fact that any new regenerated chakra that her body tried to supply was being sucked up right into it, leaving her as weak as a baby lamb.

It would have sucked off his own chakra had he been able to produce any more with the collar strapped tightly around his neck. The dark magic burned his flesh as it drew his powers into it's depths and seemed to fuel those bitches strength with his own much to his dismay.

He had tried multiple times to undo the little subjugation collar only for it to tighten and burn him with unimaginable pain, leaving his fingers and hands charred, bloody, and numb.

He'll be damned if he let them win.

Perhaps once the Hyuga was awake, he could toss her up at the ceiling in hopes of dismantling that jewel from its perch and destroying it enough to where the girl would be able to produce chakra and help him escape.

He had never had the need to rely on another person before and although the thought was rather degrading, Sasuke had no other option.

His body wasn't healing fast enough and even breathing was taking up most of his concentration; none the less, moving any limbs around.

All of his concentration was bent on separating the pain away from everything else. Had he continued to let the pain eat away at him, he would have been dead already. The amount of damage and wounds on his body seemed to be much more than what he has ever had to endure. Flesh wounds were flesh wounds but without the buffeting of his chakra, the pain seemed to be even more mind numbing. He had to find something to focus on or else he would go mentally insane.

Sasuke ignored the pain, let it bite into his flesh and cover most of his senses as he meditated.

His brain was whirling with escape plans that didn't seem to fall through. Step by step, he tried to find a way to escape, find a way to kill those demonic women in the worse of ways until they begged for mercy, because he was sure if he didn't escape soon, his fate would be in their hands.

He was assure that once he lost his purpose, they would let him rot down here.

And Sasuke didn't plan of dying yet, at least not for a very long time.

All of this had happened because he had underestimated those damned bitches.

At first, they seemed to hold not even a smidgen of chakra in their weak pathetic bodies; although, their abnormal body muscle and mass for a female had sent him on edge.

He had been ambushed by nearly 35 bulky females that all looked vaguely the same as if a shadow clone jutsu had been used, but it was not the case. More than half of his chakra had been drained in an intense fight nearly 10 minutes earlier, before the ring of women had surrounded him, almost as if they were waiting, if not stalking, him for the right moment to strike.

They had no chakra signatures and all of them were veiled in dark auras as if they were not of the living realm.

He hadn't managed to kill any of them. None of his abilities helped and his chakra started to drain down to nothing very fast. With little chakra, he could not deploy his higher powered tactics. The fire of Amaterasu did no harm to these un-dead women when a woman in the background resurrected more of these women out of nowhere and healed the currently attacking ones. They called her ' _Mistress_ ' and followed her orders like a puppet on a string. He figured that the only way to win would be to kill their supposed Mistress and had aimed for an opening in their defense of her.

They let him believe that he was successful.

He had hacked off the bitch's head and left arm with his chakra honed katana only to watch the dark staff in her hand throw him back several yards. The head had disintegrated when it touched the earth and yet another one had immediately began regrowing rather rapidly onto her neck as he was forced to employ another strategy before his chakra ran out.

Only then, could he feel the immense power from her staff when it regrew her head and limbs. He was quick to catch onto that and made that his aim when he attacked again.

The fight had lasted way longer than he had thought when he finally sliced off her arm and fingers causing her flesh to finally part with the dark staff. With a deft kick, he had sent the stick flying a few feet back and for the first time, she did not start to regenerate her own limbs, instead struggled as her wounds bled out. The other women had immediately surrounded her and protected the damn bitch when she uttered some sort of incantation to which the staff had responded to with a whirl of black energy sent straight his way.

Sasuke had thought that he had managed to evade it only to have the cloud of dark magic slam into him and choke him enough to make him motionless. It held him up in the air and sucked his energy _and_ chakra dry.

The staff had made it back to her arms to which her limbs regenerated like before. He would always remember that damned evil smirk that graced her face when the silk collar was bound tightly across the column of his throat, sending him sprawled onto the ground and unconscious.

From then on, he had been forced down the dungeon stairs and into this cell room to find that he was powerless to their assault all because of the damned collar.

It was nothing more than a strip of tiny red silk, yet it held much more power because of that bitch's magic.

An ugly snarl had made way onto his face at the memory when the sound of small feet slapping onto the cold ground caught his attention. His eyes narrowed as he tried to decipher who it was before he slumped back onto the cold wall.

The extremely skinny little girl had made way down again with their food in her hands, wide eyes darting back and forth at the Hyuga that was laying in his arms. Matted hair was too dirty to even be able to confirm its color and her little face was also stained with dirt and soot but fairly young, looking around 7-8 years old.

For the last couple of weeks, she had been the one to deliver the so called ' _food_ ' down to him and the other prisoners.

He had to hold back a grunt of anger as he thought of the other prisoners. Their bodies had been taken away days earlier when many had died from the abuse and torture bestowed upon them. Some had resorted to suicide to which the 'mistress' had resurrected them only to torture them to death once again, sometimes she would repeat the process just to watch them scream and beg for death. She obviously didn't like any of them taking matters into their own hands regarding their demise.

Most of them were wealthy lords, others strong ninjas, and most of the time, just anyone that she deemed attractive enough to capture. There was one that he was assured had been a Kage whom he had met in the past. He died nearly three days ago after succumbing to an infection that had spread from having his chest opened for the 'mistress' to toy with.

Sasuke was assured that the vile woman had eaten many vital internal organs before the Kage had died in an epileptic fit.

From the prisoners, he learned that said Kage had lasted the longest with the timing of one month and three days compared to everyone else's measly day or two.

He assumed that his fate wouldn't be very much further off from said Kage's if he didn't find an early escape soon.

Death wasn't in his agenda for a very long time. At least not from crazed demonic women who had a thing for cannibalism.

Now as for the Hyuga, she was the first female to have been brought in. Most of the captives, including himself, were all virile males. Now that she was Byakugan-less, what was the use in keeping a blind and worthless girl around?

Perhaps, they wanted to taste the girls flesh. If his memory served him right then this was the Hyuga clans esteemed heiress. The sheltered princess of a prestigious clan that has been around for hundreds of years. Consuming her flesh would be a like to consuming expensive caviar compared to what these women had been feasting on before. They probably didn't want to kill her before experiencing such a thing.

The only other thing that they could do with her was use her womb to breed mutated children.

His frown deepened when the Hyuga stirred from her sleep and pulled him from his thoughts. Her dull senses _finally_ picked up on the third aura.

She blinked wearily, eyes half lidded before opening completely, nails digging into his arm as she tensed up as if to fight and then realizing that she had nothing to fight with. Physically, she was tired and strained with no chakra to aid in any attempts.

The young girl who looked barely eight juggled the tray of food in one hand and a set of keys in the other.

The door unlocked easily as the younger girl contemplated something before she warily stuck the tray onto the ground. The water sloshed out of the container as Hinata strained her ears to hear what it was the new person was doing.

The aura didn't hold any intent or malice, just unease and fear, but Hinata was still wary. Just as quickly as the girl came down, she immediately bounded upwards at a faster pace once the task was done as if the devil was on her tail.

Usually, she would bring the food close enough before shoving the tray to him in fear of being killed by him since he had attempted to hurt her before when he was first captured. When she noted that there was another person locked in the cell with him who wasn't chained to the wall, the little girl had opted out of getting too close this time.

 _Tsk._

"U-Uchiha-san?" She whispered softly to him before removing her fingers from his arm and finally realizing her position against his chest.

 _So it hadn't been just a scary nightmare, after all._

Her shoulders drooped momentarily as she leaned back into him with ease, barely scraping against his open wounds as his hand twitched.

A faint blush swept across her cheeks.

"They brought us food," he said tonelessly as she perked up, head barely missing his chin by a hair as she tried to find the food with her senses.

At the mention of food, Hinata couldn't help but feel her mouth salivate in hunger. Even when she was asleep, she could feel the hunger leave an uncomfortable pang in her stomach.

She was excited that they had even decided to feed her!

Her stomach grumbled and she quickly turned her head away from his direction as her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

"A-Ano, can you please p-point me to where it is? I-I'm hungry," she softly said, head turned back to him and waited for a response from her cold cell mate.

She hoped he was going to reply with something other than 'hn' because she didn't want to die of starvation before she found the food.

A semi-pleased smirk played on his lips as he directed her to the food which she adamantly wanted. Her lithe fingers curled around the small tray and carried it slowly and carefully back to him as she tried not to stumble since her legs were still kind of numb and weak.

An almost radiant smile caressed her dry lips before she found her way back to him, slowly offering the food to him first as she sat to the side of him.

His eyebrows quirked. Even when she was mindlessly hungry, she was still so considerate of him to offer her findings to him first.

 _Selfless. Too kind and caring._

 _These traits of hers will definitely get her killed off faster than she could even blink._

But oddly he felt _pleased_. Or perhaps it was the sadistic urge to swipe that smile off of her face, to awaken her to the real cruel world and see how lost she would be, floundering around to find real bearing.

Sasuke realized that this was the first opportunity to give her that rude awakening.

He reached down to his own bowl and watched as her tapered fingers fumbled over their shared water bowl.

She shivered momentarily at the coldness before smiling contently when she realized that it was cold water. Delicately Hinata lifted the bowl, arms trembling to hold its weight before she took a slight sip to wet her lips.

 _So easily pleased,_ he mused.

Why was she so happy with just being able to drink water? He wasn't quite too sure.

His eyes followed her every move, trying to commit it to memory. She was sitting in seiza again, back straight, head tipped upwards like the true heir to a prestigious clan.

Her fingers trailed downwards again to the other bowl before her head titled slightly to the side and paused.

Sasuke was slightly sanguine.

But she wasn't moving fast enough for him, he needed her to get to their ' _meal'_ quicker.

"A-are there any u-utensils, Uchiha-san?" she asked as his lips turned slightly into a deep smirk.

He responded with a slight grunt which she was immediately able to decipher as a 'no' after being confined with him for so many hours. She nodded in understanding. They were captives, _prisoners_ , so this was already a blessing.

They could have easily been _starved_ to death.

Sasuke almost snorted.

It was just like her to go and find the silver lining in between a life and death situation.

The Hyuga slowly wiped her hands onto her shirt, trying to find a clean spot to wipe the blood and debris off before her fingers found the bowl again.

Her fingers once again grazed something but it was warm, slick, and moist with a hint of stickiness to it that she couldn't name.

She deemed that it must be meat.

 _Raw._

 _Uncooked._

Her face paled.

It wasn't fish.

This 'meat' was much more thicker and bloodier. Recently chunked out from the ' _animal'_.

Although Hinata couldn't see, she could definitely _feel_ without touch what kind of meat it is. Something that had an _aura_.

Not pork. Not beef. Not chicken. Not _animal_. Then what else could it be?

Sasuke chewed loudly, purposefully as her unseeing eyes strayed to him in contemplation.

Her eyes watered.

"Eat, Hyuga." He said the words tastelessly, watching her face scrunch in horror at knowing that he was actually consuming the ' _food_ ' as if unaffected.

"I-I..." She stuttered, unable to form any more words as her mouth opened and closed.

"I thought you were hungry." He urged her forwards, a wide ghastly smirk stretching his lips in a rather maniacal way.

"I-I d-don't f-feel too hungry a-anymore." She whispered out the words, her cheeks much more paler than normal.

Sasuke grunted in reply and consumed his meal in earnest as the Hyuga girl cringed and took a small sip of the water like a high born woman that she was. He felt deeply unsatisfied with her response, her discomfort had been expected but somehow it made him unnerved.

He resumed his position back against the wall after finishing with a gulp of water to clean the blood from his lips and chin while watching the Hyuga tentatively push the tray away from her with a suppressed sob.

He wanted to see how long she would last before she crawled back to it. Probably not too long was what he imagined.

Hinata stifled down another hiccup, lips forming silent words of prayer for the meat that laid in the bowl with a rather serious look on her face.

Sasuke's brows curved in disbelief. The innocent little Hyuga was _praying_ for their meal!

This left him feeling slightly defeated, slumping back and scowling weakly.

Suddenly, an odd thought made way to the front of his mind.

Would she have prayed for him if it was his flesh laying in that bowl?

No doubt about it, the Hyuga _would._

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A/N: Thanks for reading guys! :) It means the world to me! Reviews are highly appreciated but not mandatory :D


	4. Chapter 4 : Open Wounds

Chapter 4 : Open Wounds

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 _4 hours._

The Hyuga had been sitting in that seiza style for four agonizing hours now, sniffling here and there, face blotchy from all of her terrified emotions.

"Eat, Hyuga. I don't want to hear your stomach grumble any longer," he pointedly ordered, noting how white her knuckles had become, flesh probably cold now from how long she had sat away from him.

She had lasted longer than he had thought. It had been almost two days now since she had arrived in his cell, sharing his same breathing space and he knew her to be extremely hungry, yet she deferred from her food.

She had prayed to it after all.

Although there were no windows and the cell itself was encased in mostly darkness, Sasuke had been keeping track of the time. Counting down every day, hour, minute, and second.

 _His sense of time was immaculate_.

"I-I can't." She whimpered pitifully, unseeing eyes welling with un-shed tears for their 'meal'. They dropped like pearls downwards at varying speeds when she sniffled and wiped her face with a sleeve.

"You won't have any strength to escape if you starve yourself to death." He reasoned with her, watching her face contort in anguish and despair at the truth in his words.

Sasuke didn't say anything after that. Instead, he chose to watch the Hyuga as another two hours slowly trickled by.

Finally, with grueling slowness her trembling hands reached out and hesitantly grasped a small piece of the meat, now cold from sitting there for so long.

Had the Hyuga chosen to eat it while it was still slightly warm, it would have been a much easier feat to swallow, but now that it was stagnantly cold, it was going to be far more harder to get down.

He'd have to applaud her if she succeeds in swallowing the first mouthful.

Pearl white teeth softly bit into a small corner, but the meat was tougher and far more resilient to her soft bites. The blood trickled down her chin, tainting her pale face along with the streaks of tears as she bit more forcefully until she was able to remove a small chunk enough to fit her lips around.

Her face contorted in pain, emotionally and mentally drained from such a disgusting act.

Hinata had pep talked herself into actually biting into the meat and the taste was more disgusting than anything she had ever had to eat.

But he was right.

How did she intend to survive if she didn't eat? She was a ninja. She couldn't let something like this tear her down.

 _She had to be strong._ She couldn't let him see how weak and _broken_ she was.

But it was so _slimy_ and _slick_ , rolling around the top of her tongue as she tried to chew it with small fruitless bites.

It took her almost fifteen minutes to stop gagging before she actually got herself to swallow the cold meat and by then the sticky blood on her lips and chin had already dried.

The blood had dried on her cheeks yet her doe like innocence seemed to shine through and he wondered what would it take to extinguish that.

What could kill off that light in her eyes?

Soon after, Hinata's tears finally subsided as she forced the meat down, holding her breath so that it wouldn't try to come back up. This had to be the most hardest thing she had ever had to do.

Her stomach gurgled in protest as the urge to heave made her lungs burn.

Sasuke watched on in amusement at the situation.

Only the Hyuga princess could make eating human flesh seem almost natural, taking tentative bites in a rather elegant and demure way as if she was eating a high class meal inside her clan castle.

 _He found it laughable._

Sasuke wondered what her reaction would be if he had told her he actually knew who it was that they had both consumed. Would she burst into tears or would she kowtow until her forehead was raw in prayer?

 _Either case would be amusing to see._

The Hyuga had finished a small chunk and had quickly gulped down a mouthful of water to push the meat down, face far paler than he was used to seeing. Sasuke found it amusing either way. At least she provided a form of entertainment for him.

Yet he couldn't help but wonder, was she going to puke it back out now that she had managed to swallow all of it?

Her face had turned slightly pasty and olive colored.

 _Hinata tried._

She had tried as hard as she could to keep the food down enough so that it would digest and give her energy but her stomach was having none of that.

Almost 45 minutes later, Sasuke had managed to point her over to the metal bucket aligned with the wall to the left of him as her face went green.

The sounds of her gagging and choking as she puked the remnants of the meal from her body resounded off of the walls and throughout the dungeon as he tried to meditate.

By the time she was done, her whole body was trembling, shaking in fervor as she washed her mouth and face with their drinking water.

The slight burn of her eyes was quickly swallowed down with the water. She didn't want to look weak in front of him but everything that was happening was taking a toll on her body, mentally and physically.

She really didn't know how long she would be able to last in here like this before everything became too much for her to handle. How he managed to do it was a mystery to her.

"I-I'm so-sorry, Uchiha-san," she whispered pathetically as he grunted in reply, eyes closing in meditation.

Why was she even apologizing to him?

Hinata shifted from foot to foot, unsure of how to approach him. She was getting gradually colder again, skin almost pasty white now and she needed his warmth desperately.

Yet her pride and embarrassment was keeping her from crawling back to him and she knew he was waiting for her next move.

Hinata bit her lip lightly before deciding that survival was a necessity compared to her pride.

 _What was the worth of pride when she is dead?_

She tentatively bent down and made her way back to him, calculating how many steps she needed to be before her hands reached for his knee.

Sasuke's eyes opened, watching her hands waver, reaching out for him before sighing out in exasperation. His extremely warm hands grabbed her icy cold wrists and with a sharp tug, she lost her balance and went tumbling into his lap, soft cheeks slamming onto his naked chest and rounded bottom narrowly missing his girth. His teeth grit as the wall bit into his back, opening another handful of wounds he really didn't need to reopen again, not that it wasn't going to happen eventually.

She wanted to apologize but had been knocked slightly off kilter from the fall and could only lay there gasping for breath while her body warmed up from his heat.

The chain rattled lightly still from the sharp movement and was the only sound to occupy the room now that the Hyuga had sagged into his body, completely depleted of energy. Her breathing had calmed considerably and they wallowed in the silence comfortably when Hinata noted how numb her fingers were.

They still hadn't warmed up yet, contrary to the fact that she was literally attached to a human heater. Hinata cautiously curled her fingers around his arm, seeping the warmth off of his skin when his muscles bunched under her touch at the unexpected coldness of her hands.

"I-I'm sorry, m-my fing-fingers are cold," she said, voice inexplicably soft and feminine to him as he almost rolled his eyes.

"Stop apologizing, Hyuga." He couldn't stand it. She apologized for everything and it definitely annoyed him more than he said.

Hinata suppressed a shiver at hearing his deep baritone voice filter past her burning ears. She meeped out a barely audible 'hai' before turning her body slightly to once again press her cold nose against his chest, cheeks blushing an endearing shade of pink in an attempt to hide from him using his body.

Which was a ludicrous idea. How can she hide from him _using_ him?

It seemed almost adorable- -no- - it was ugly and unjustified, he tried to reason with himself before taking a deep breath to meditate again.

Adorable is _not_ in his vocabulary.

Hinata couldn't help but contemplate how staggering the amount of intimacy seemed to increase now that they were cell mates. Years ago, neither had ever attempted to converse with the other. They had barely even said a greeting to each other; none the less, a full sentence and yet here she was, trapped in his arms, sharing his warmth and company.

She was settled comfortably against his body, feeling almost peaceful when the footsteps returned, this time the steps were more louder, heavier as they descended and she knew it to be those women.

 _They had come back._

"Well, aren't you two looking cozy." The brown haired woman taunted them, lips curled into a slightly amused smirk as the keys rattled before jamming into the hole. The door eerily creaked open and Hinata's whole body tensed, breaths coming out in choppy gasps as she quickly took the defensive.

Sasuke's eyes finally opened, body relaxed and calm as Hinata wondered how he could hide his emotions so well because she felt like a train wreck on the inside. The aura's stopped right in front of her when Hinata wheezed in fear, fingers curling into his arm in complete terror.

"Too bad we have to take lover boy here for a minute," the scary woman said with a short breathy laugh at her own joke. Her sharp eyes seemed to prickle Hinata's skin when Hinata clung even tighter to Sasuke in uncertainty.

Before long, sharp nails dug into the sleeve of Hinata's shirt and pricked her delicate skin, dragging her petite form off of the Uchiha and tossed her limply onto the ground. The back of Hinata's head slammed painfully down with a deafening thud. This woman's grip was so strong and Hinata's weak struggles meant nothing as she laid on the ground trying to catch her breath. They had took her by surprise with the sudden movement and the white flashes wouldn't stop in her mind's eye.

She could hear the shackles creak and grind together as they were opened before the chains dropped onto the ground with a loud clink. Hinata blindly reached out, barely grazing his leg with a soft whimper as they dragged him out of the cell rather quickly, leaving her to wheeze for breath on the dirty ground.

 _Where did they take him? What are they going to do to him? Will they return him back here?_

Her heart hurt for him as the thoughts continue to filter through her mind in magnanimous amounts.

She had to force herself to swallow down her fear for him. Nothing will happen to him, she just had to believe that. She can't mourn for him because Uchiha Sasuke won't die. He's stronger than that.

He's _the_ Uchiha Sasuke.

Although she knew that he was strong, it didn't stop her from worrying for him any when the anxiety and nervousness threatened to consume her.

For the next three hours Hinata prayed for him. Prayed for him to return to her in one piece; although, she knew he was too strong to succumb to them.

The first time he had been brought in here with her, she had remembered that he was bleeding a lot and knew that they had tortured him, but to what extent she didn't know. Without her eyes and her chakra, she was almost powerless.

If only her chakra would regenerate faster, she would be able to help heal some of his wounds if that was the case. But it was odd that her chakra hadn't regenerated to full capacity yet, usually it would quickly build up within a couple of hours. Hinata prodded her powers further until she could feel the slight warmth of her chakra, too small to be able to form any jutsus.

Perhaps, she had been damaged more than she thought. Prodding further within herself, she finally was able to note that something was drawing chakra from her body.

Something at the top of the room was draining her chakra, yet she wasn't strong enough to stop it. Whatever it was, was too far away for her to attempt to dislodge or destroy. There was no way she could destroy it herself.

Hinata slowly crawled to the corner, close to where Sasuke had been chained up, fingers pushing the chains away before huddling against it for warmth.

The wait had been long but she couldn't help the breath of relief that she released when she felt his dark aura bump against hers.

She had missed him, his warmth and his aura, and had to wonder how she could miss him when in fact, she hadn't even known him for that long.

Sasuke ground his teeth together, body tense as his legs dragged painfully beneath him. Various fresh cuts and lacerations littered his flesh in unbelievable amounts. One particularly long wound dragged from the top of his chest and down to his abdomen and hip, while nail shaped crescents bled from his shoulders and back.

He was wheezing, gagging, and gasping when they dragged his flaccid form into the cell and the scent of blood, thick and tangent bit into her lungs.

Sasuke _never_ showed weakness. She never heard him complain about his discomfort and pain but to hear him gasping like this brought even more unrest and turmoil to fill her.

They had _hurt_ him.

Very _very_ badly.

He was once again chained to the wall when his legs gave out on him. Sasuke fell back onto his haunches before his bottom met the floor, pain coursing through his blood like fire as the severe wounds continued to bleed and torture him.

Hinata remained trembling in the corner, waiting for the women to leave but she could hear one of them spit, then the sound of something being kicked violently several times and then the sound of a masculine grunt of pain.

Hot tears leaked from the corner of her eyes, dripping down her cheeks and burning her cracked lips from the salt of her own tears.

 _Why was she so useless?_

Just when she thought they wouldn't leave, the women had retreated back up the stair steps before Hinata blindly made her way to him. Tears were streaking down her face in torrents with a strictly pained expression on her face. He was the one in pain and she made it look like she was the one tortured.

 _Ridiculous._

He grimaced when her ice cold hands made contact with his heated flesh, right onto one of the many cuts that littered his body. His sticky blood coated her hands and she trembled slightly, a worried frown marring her pretty face.

"U-Uchiha-san," she whispered out, a pathetic sob bubbling from her throat as her hands trembled.

"Stop crying, Hyuga." He wheezed, trying to catch his breath as he caught her trembling hands in his own shaking ones.

"I-I... P-Please let me take care of you," she whispered, the anxiousness and worry evident in her voice as she tried to wrap her fingers around his own. His hand was obviously much more bigger than her own delicate ones and tainted with his own blood.

"I don't need it," he said pridefully.

Hinata could hear the strain in his voice despite how he tried to mask his pain with pride. He couldn't filter the agony out of his voice this time. The hiss of pain broke through the cracks of his teeth when she had touched his wound and could not be concealed.

She couldn't let him hurt like this, not if she knew that she could help somehow.

"P-Please Uchiha-san. _For me._ I can't stand to see you h-hurting so badly." She whispered lowly, tears wetting the front of her shirt before he sighed in exasperation and grunted once in approval; although, he was sure there wasn't much she could do for him in this state. He didn't know why he was even willing to appease her.

A watery smile met his gaze before she quickly assessed the damage on his chest as he laid back willingly to let her worry over him. Soft fingers drifted from his collarbone down to his chest before snagging against the long laceration on his abdomen. He barely managed to swallow the grunt of pain when she immediately jerked her hands back, pretty mouth wide in horror.

 _Only vile and cruel people could do this to someone!_

Hinata scuttled towards their drinking water before she tore off a size-able chunk of her shirt in order to create a make shift towel or rag to clean his wounds. Since her shirt was rather long and baggy it didn't make much of a difference and she didn't worry too much about it.

Hinata quickly resumed her position in front of him once she had collected their water bowl. Her touch didn't linger and she promptly worked on cleaning his wounds the best she can compared to the many medics before that had molested him while in the guise of being a professional nurse.

Hinata's fingers were soft, delicate and seemed to lull him into relaxation like no other had managed to before.

She worked with deft precision across all of his wounds and when her hands blindly moved past his waist and down towards his legs, he caught her wrist before she touched his aroused flesh.

Bewildered lavender eyes flashed up to him as an endearing blush colored her cheeks. She didn't apologize in order to please him and instead resumed her task, fingers finding several wounds on his biceps and forearms, careful not to stray to private territory.

"I-I...Thank you, Uchiha-san," she whispered as he rolled his eyes in disbelief at the Hyuga girl.

 _Why was she thanking him?_

He thought he understood the workings of her mind but each time she seemed to prove him wrong and became a rather interesting puzzle to figure out. He didn't understand where her kindness came from, how she could care for him the way she does. They didn't even know each other that well yet the genuine care and concern that he could see in her eyes and on her face could not be faked and it made him forget that they had only known each other no more than 3-4 days now.

 _What goes on inside of her mind?_ He was curious of the answer.

Once done, she had sat next to him instead of in his lap in deference to his wounds only to have him carefully draw her back into his arms. Her chilled flesh immediately leeched off his body warmth and she couldn't help but curl back into his body, mindful of his wounds but not much could be done because there was just too many.

Her breath fluttered across his chest before she laid her cheeks onto his chest, nose brushing his collarbone when her eyebrows curved in confusion. She could smell the scent of strong and heavy feminine perfume on his flesh, musky and sweet as if they had been extremely close to him when they tortured him.

Weird.

Hinata yawned, eyelids feeling heavy as his warmth seemed to lull her to sleep.

"Rest, Hyuga," he ordered, eyes closing when she sighed out tiredly but contentedly against his chest.

This time, Hinata dreamt of escaping with her silent companion and beautiful obsidian eyes.

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A/N: Thanks for the support guys! :) Stay tuned for the next chapters! :D


	5. Chapter 5 : The Abused

Chapter 5 : The Abused

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As the time passed, Hinata couldn't help but confide in the quiet Uchiha.

She wasn't very sociable and the silence was comfortable but she wanted to do something to fill the time and so Hinata had started telling him stories of her life. The words flowed smoothly from her lips and her stutter had lessened immensely as she became comfortable with him.

She talked about her team mates, missions, gardening, and several other things she deemed important to her. He remained silent most of the time and sometimes even grunted a reply to watch a smile bloom across her lips. And as the time progressed, she told him about the hardships in her family, of how she feared losing her heiress title, of Neji nii-san, and of never measuring up to her father's standards.

Talking to him was a lot more easier than she thought it would be, but somehow she was able to tell him all of her deepest secrets and it felt good to get all of it off of her chest. There wasn't very many people who knew of her internal struggles and now Uchiha Sasuke knew more about her than even her closest friends and family. He was almost like a therapist. She almost giggled at the thought of him being her personal therapist. He would probably grunt in a disgruntled way if he knew that she thought of him in such a way.

Hinata tipped her head back and smiled brightly up at him before continuing her story of her childhood when Hanabi got caught trimming all of the cats hair off. She babbled on like that, telling him all the things she thought comical or interesting.

And Sasuke found himself listening to every word that the Hyuga said. Not that there was anything else to do other than hear her soft voice speak.

It was more soothing than anything now that she lost most of her stutter. Compared to most of the women that he knew, her voice was the most soothing. Not screeching or screaming, just very considerate of the person listening.

Not that the Hyuga had any mean bone in her body to be screaming at anybody like a banshee. Perhaps it was her nature to be so soft spoken and demure, everything she did was in consideration of him. She often asked if he was thirsty, hungry, how his wounds fared and constantly worried for him even after he had told her he was fine.

 _She was too kind and caring._

He didn't know how many times that thought would cross his mind.

"My chakra is s-slowly returning, Uchiha-san," she softly told him, curling her fingers together before sending bits of it to her palms, forcing them to glow an unearthly green in healers energy.

His body tensed, perking up against her back as dark eyes stared in disbelief.

 _Chakra!_

His mind whirled at all the possibilities and quickly tried to assess the situation. It seemed that the Hyuga had a bigger well of chakra than most people, possibly from coming from such a prestigious clan known for their chakra control.

She turned slightly to him, purposefully raising her healing energy to try to heal his wounds when he caught her wrist and stopped her.

" _Don't_ ," he said, his grip firm but not extremely tight and uncomfortable, it was obvious that he didn't want to harm her.

"I-I'm sorry," she replied dejectedly, lips trembling when she tried to move back at his rejection.

"Save your energy. If you heal me those bitches will notice. We have to use the element of surprise against them." He quickly elaborated as she immediately snuffed out her chakra and the room lost the warm glow that she expelled. Strong arms curled around her back, pulling her back into him as she slumped into his chest in relief.

The jewel in the ceiling had soon swallowed the rest of her energy but he noted how it pulled the chakra from her slowly, letting the rest of her energy collect before it could draw it in.

This left them with a lot to play with now.

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Their meal came once again and this time Hinata had been able to keep her food down; although, she hadn't eaten very much of it, just in case her stomach decided to fight with her.

And just like the days previous, the vile women came back.

The terror and fear that threatened to consume her caused her eyes to burn but it wasn't for her.

 _She feared for him._

Hinata was scared for him and he knew it.

"P-please leave him alone!" She cried, her face messy as she shouted uncontrollably, fingers grabbing onto one of the women's arms weakly.

Her pathetic struggle was useless when she was tossed off like a ragged doll, head slamming against the wall. Yet she was adamant. Hinata quickly crawled back, her hands clutched blindly at the woman's legs, catching fine fabric and holding onto it even when her long hair was grabbed and pulled painfully. She forcefully held on.

"Get her off, Sumi!" The brown haired woman screeched angrily when the petite Hyuga tried to hit and bite her, dull white teeth bit into her leg like a metal clamp. Hinata held on tight, gritting her jaw down hard until she could taste the tang of metallic blood on her tongue. It disgusted her, yes, but she was not going to let these women hurt Sasuke.

"Stop, Hyuga." His sharp command startled her but not enough to stop her pathetic attempts. He watched the Hyuga tussle with the muscled woman. She was biting and hissing like a little kitten, sharp claws breaking from her fight while angry tears fueled her emotions.

He felt a sharp pinch on his heart as he watched the Hyuga try to fight off these women.

 _For him._

The other woman swiftly laid a bowl of murky liquid onto the ground before kicking Hinata deftly in the stomach. She was dragged off pitifully, tossed harshly onto the ground and he could hear the sound of her forehead slapping painfully downwards. White spots danced in her vision but she was quick to get back up only to get kicked in the chest, sending her sprawled back onto the ground with a pained grunt from the initial surprise.

The two women kicked the blind girl several times in the stomach and legs but the Hyuga didn't scream or shout her pain. She pridefully took their hits like a true kunoichi.

"U-Uchiha-san," she cried weakly, hands blindly covering her face while blood dripped down her pale face, out of breath and completely exhausted and in pain.

His fingers bit into his palm and formed a hard fist.

The brown haired woman waved her hands to discard the handful of silken black hair that she had yanked out before picking up the bowl and letting Sumi hold the Uchiha down.

Sasuke's skin was raised with goosebumps when she gripped his jaw with a crushing hold and proceeded to quickly force the slightly sweet liquid down his throat, bits trickling down his chin as he tried to cough it back up to no avail.

The damned bitch wouldn't have any of it as she quickly pinched the bridge of his nose forcing him to swallow down mouthfuls of the disgusting liquid. With a swift kick to the knee, he was sent kneeling before them.

"Stop! Let him go! P-Please!" Hinata begged weakly, tears seeping from down turned eyes as she gagged on the taste of her own blood as it dripped down her chin.

"N-no. No!" She cried loudly as the women dragged Sasuke's body with them and his dark eyes never left her sobbing form.

 _The Hyuga was too kind for her own good._

Her crying face seemed to make his chest cinch tightly.

The metal door slammed shut.

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Hinata slowly pulled herself back up painfully, everything hurt now as she attempted to move herself upright. Blood trickled down her forehead to her cheeks and she knew that her skin had been torn open, the throbbing at her temples came back with a vengeance as if she had a concussion. Sitting upright seemed to be hard as her head spun out of control, even her breath was coming out in harsh pants.

Hinata winced in pain before crawling her way back to their water bowl and her make shift rag. With steadily shaking hands, she wiped her face off only to have her tears wet it again.

Hinata knew tears were worthless but she couldn't get them to stop.

 _Why was she so worthless?_

She didn't remember how long she sat there sobbing for her companion when the cell opened.

His aura had dimmed immensely, weakly swirling wildly around his form and she patiently waited for them to return him to her. Hinata was glad that they had ignored her and chose to quickly throw his heavy body onto the ground after locking him back into place.

His skin felt clammy, throat slightly itchy and dry, sweat collecting on his brow as his hands shook and trembled.

Even after the bitches were done toying with him, his body was still humming thickly from the aphrodisiac.

It was alike to an out of body experience and he was assured that they had overdosed him with that toxic liquid. The previous times that they had tried to take him, his body refused to become aroused by them. His shaft had laid flaccid and soft between his thighs no matter what they tried.

After several attempts at forced hand and blow jobs, one of the women had dared to bite his girth in frustration when he hadn't hardened like how their mistress had wanted and left his shaft weeping with blood.

He had more control over his own body than anything until they decided to make him ingest the aphrodisiac in cringe worthy amounts.

He could feel it in his stomach, could feel himself harden painfully, aroused beyond word as his hazy eyes watched Hinata's innocent form.

His lungs burned like an inferno, flesh lit on fire, lungs heaving with each breath, veins burning with the need to release.

Sasuke could see alabaster skin, soft and smooth against his fingertips, long blue black hair spread like a halo underneath her head while lavender eyes were squeezed shut in pleasure. Beautiful curves and rounded breasts, long legs spread around his hips while kiss ripened red lips parted in harsh pants as he fucked her senseless.

His pants for breath filled the air.

"Hy-Hyuga." He called to her when she obediently looked towards him with unseeing eyes, her hands clutched the slightly damp rag in a choke hold.

"H-hai, Uchiha-san?" She whispered softly, delicate brows curving in confusion.

"Come here. I-I need your help." He cursed himself for his weakness.

Hinata was almost taken aback by his request, eyes slightly wide in surprise. The desperation was there in his voice and Hinata tried to swallow down the knot in her throat, weakly lifting her head to follow his wild could hear the restraint and anger in his voice.

But most of all, _the defeat._

He couldn't take care of his own weaknesses now and she was the only one that could possibly help him.

 _Damn it all._

Long black lashes fluttered as she crawled her way to him, delicate fingers tapping against the cold ground and he was forced to swallow down a groan.

His dark eyes followed her form, watching the luscious swell of her well rounded backside move as she crawled closer.

Her innocent face tilted towards him and he felt his arousal lessen.

 _She trusted him._

 _He couldn't hurt her._

When did he have a fucking _conscience?_

Sasuke grimaced as her delicate fingers grazed his bicep and his muscles twitched at the innocent touch while inappropriate images continued to bombard his mind.

"Y-You-You're burning up Uchiha-san!" She exclaimed rather loudly, almost jumping when his flesh almost burned her upon the first touch. His temperature was even higher than it was before, abnormally high to the point that it felt like he was going to combust into flames.

 _What had they done to him?_

He grunted lightly as she mumbled a soft embarrassed apology before removing her warm touch from his shoulder and he was tempted to force her hands back onto his throbbing flesh.

She pulled herself to his level, lilac colored eyes swiveling as if she was trying to see what was wrong with him. Her slightly enhanced sense of smell caught the smell of sweat, musk and strong feminine perfume.

Sasuke had a nice masculine smell of lightning and rain but now his scent was smothered by that familiar women's perfume so strong it was as if he was bathed in it.

They didn't need to get so close like this to him in order to attack or torture him. Not unless they were torturing him another way, a way in which their flesh had to be on his own until their scent seemed to be ingrained onto his.

The rag slipped from her slackened fingers to plop onto the cold ground.

Her stomach had turned at the thought while her eyes widened at the realization.

They had touched Uchiha-san. Those vile woman had forced themselves on him and used him for their own pleasures! She wasn't idiotic enough to believe otherwise.

 _They had abused him_.

Her fingernails bit into her palms as she tried to calm herself. Never had she felt so angry before in her life. Those women will definitely get what they deserve and she wanted to be the one to give it to them.

"G-Get the bucket for me." He breathed out harshly, hands flaccid and useless at his sides. His body was completely drained of energy.

 _How pathetic._

Hinata hesitantly followed his instructions, narrowly grabbing the cold metal bucket and grimaced as she could smell the scent of their urine and defecation. His gaze was burning her backside, watching the Hyuga Princess delicately pick up the dump bucket and bring it to him.

It is indeed hilarious how far the both of them have fallen, how far they have been humiliated.

"U-Uchiha-san?" She softly asked, voice full of concern and worry.

"Those bitches poisoned me. I need you to help me get it out." His words sounded sharp with a slight sneer of disgust, gravelly and barely constrained of anger.

"P-poison?" She whispered in anxiety, tempted to wring her shirt.

"Punch me in the stomach, Hyuga." His hand caught her cold wrist, dragging her closer to him before setting her open palm onto his bare stomach.

She couldn't miss the seriousness in his voice.

"N-no! I-I could n-never, Uchiha-san!" She weakly protested, wetness glistening on her lashes at just the thought of violently punching the wounded Uchiha.

 _How could they do this to him!_

"This stuff in my body is settling in, Hyuga." He grunted as her hands slowly touched his neck, traveling upwards to his jaw in a hesitant way before reaching his lips. He didn't want to let her know that the only options were to punch him until he was unconscious or let him have his way with her body.

She would probably sacrifice herself just to help him had he told her that.

 _Tsk._

At this moment, Sasuke felt like he would go insane. He couldn't get the scent of her out of his head. The need to have her closer seemed to make any sane thought seem to leave his consciousness. Her skin smelled like lilac and vanilla, sweet and subtle unlike those bitches who used his body and flesh for their own amusement.

Their scent was suffocating and putrid, it brought bile to the back of his throat as he was forced to pleasure them. A shiver raked his body. He could still taste their flesh and excretions in his mouth as he forced back an unpleasant gag, the need to throw up was imminent.

"P-please open your mouth U-Uchiha-san. I-I-I can only do it this way." She whispered in absolute anguish, her mouth down turned while jaw gritted tightly in order to stop herself from crying for him.

He parted his lips as she turned slightly before her fingers touched the back of his throat and his gag reflex immediately started.

The putrid liquid came gushing from his mouth as he bowed his head and heaved the sweet substance up, barely missing Hinata's shoulder as she shuffled to the side.

Her hands took reprieve to the back of his neck and shoulders before rubbing in slight comforting circles as he puked himself dry, waiting with him until he felt better.

Sasuke could still feel the aphrodisiac settle in his abdomen like lead, holding itself together as he tried to puke it all out.

"Again." He choked out the word as she once again felt up his face before her fingers entered his mouth.

He heaved up more liquid and then chunks of food that he had consumed earlier.

Her warm fingers rubbed his back continuously, comforting and familiar as his body finally calmed down from the after affects.

Their cell smelled slightly more acidic and faintly sweeter than before once he was completely done.

Hinata was still crying slightly, sniffling when Sasuke brought his hands upwards to swipe at the fallen tears that had wet her cheeks in the first act of compassion towards her.

For the first time, Hinata threw caution to the wind and encircled her slender arms around his waist, hugging him softly to her body as she cried.

She couldn't stop the tears.

Sasuke's head dipped downwards, cold nose brushing her temple and them her warm neck, before resting against the crook of her neck and shoulder. He slowly inhaled her scent, breathing deeply to calm his rapidly beating heart.

Weakly, Sasuke let his hands circle her waist and basked in her comfort for once. His warm puffs of air brushed against her sensitive skin as he breathed when her cold fingers moved his bangs aside. She set her cool palms onto his burning forehead before threading her fingers through his dark hair and stroking it soothingly, trying her best to comfort him the only way she knew how.

This didn't make him any less of who he was before. Nothing that these vile women did to him could change that.

Sasuke Uchiha would _always_ be Sasuke Uchiha to her.

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A/N : This brought a lot of feels to the front you guys. *wipes tears*. My fingers are cramping up but I am going to get the next chapter down soon! :) Thanks for reading! :D


	6. Chapter 6 : Blinding Terror

Chapter 6 : Blinding Terror

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Hinata couldn't put her finger on it but something had changed between them. Perhaps, it was the understanding or the pact of companionship they had, but oddly, things seemed more intimate now.

Even Sasuke's demeanor had changed. His touch didn't feel strained or forced like a means to an end anymore. Instead, his hands tended to linger on her arms and waist before fully releasing her and instead of shying from that lingering touch, she _leaned_ into it _._

 _Appreciated_ it _._

 _Yearned_ for it.

She was becoming rather attached to her companion. Although he remained silent and never carried very much conversation with her, she _knew_ he listened. Sasuke didn't have to talk because she seemed to understand all of his gestures now. Even the changes in his aura seemed to mean something different. His constant 'hn' all mean something different depending on his tone of voice and his current mood.

She currently had the ability to read him just based off of his body language and Hinata wondered if there was anyone out there that could.

And the days seem to drag on, some days longer than others, but with him by her side, she felt oddly comforted.

 _He was all that she had now._

Sasuke was a rather reserved and quiet man. Although, he rarely spoke, when he did speak, his deep baritone voice seemed to warm her ears and cheeks and caused a rather comforting warmth to envelope her chest. His warmth and boundless aura seemed to wrap around her, soothing her worries without her even asking him to. Perhaps he didn't realize that he was doing any of that but she was truly grateful.

 _She was beginning to really appreciate her silent companion._

He never spoke without purpose and never lied to her. He didn't degrade her, didn't tease her for being _weak_ and _submissive_ , and didn't make her feel _inferior_ to him.

 _Not like the many people in her life._

She winced.

Sasuke didn't expect too much out of her and never asked for more than she could give. In fact, he was always the one to hold her tighter when she cried. He wiped her tears and sorrow away even when he was annoyed with her constant stuttering and inferior behavior.

 _She would have gone insane without him here._

Hinata knew that he was mostly annoyed with her but Sasuke was _always_ patient with her. Had he been repulsed by her, he wouldn't have shared his warmth with her, wouldn't have even let her come close enough to invade his breathing space. He would have tried to strangle her to death before she could even get too close.

Maybe she was letting her emotions get the best of her, but she couldn't help the feelings that sprouted rather quickly. Hinata knew realistically that their relationship wouldn't progress very much farther than companionship and there was this pang of disappointment at the thought.

 _What would happen when they escaped? Would he toss her aside and leave her to her own devices while he went on his way?_

These thoughts constantly bombarded her mind whenever she thought of the future.

After all, who would keep a blind _worthless_ girl around? She would be more of a hinder to him than anything. His time would be spent taking care of her more than getting anything else done.

Hinata swallowed the lump that formed in her throat as her happy mood dampened.

 _She realized that she didn't want to part with him._

He was just supposed to be her cell mate, a companion in the darkness, yet she felt like she knew him for years now.

She was quick to realize that he had become more than that in such a short period of time.

Hinata grimaced.

 _Where had these sudden feelings come from?_

These abnormal feelings aren't good. If he knew that she was starting to feel something for him he might become very upset with her and she didn't like the thought of Sasuke being mad at her.

He probably didn't need her like she needed him. Her lips pursed in a small frown.

 _But she didn't want to be without him._

Her slightly chilled nose rubbed against his chest adoringly, breathing in his scent with every inhale. Sasuke smelled more like himself now that she had basically given him a bath with the rag and their drinking water because she would rather be without water than let their scent mar his skin.

The musky smell had been more prominent between his thighs but she didn't have the courage to touch that part of him, she felt like she would have combusted had she actually done that.

He had smirked into her hair rather bemusedly before taking the make shift rag from her trembling hands and cleaned himself off with a slight struggle from injured limbs.

The bright red blush on her cheeks was rather adorable as she tipped her head upwards towards his chin, blindly watching his face as if she _could_ see him.

His dark eyes stared back at her and his face mirrored in her bright opalescent eyes.

Innocence practically radiated off of her compared to his own dark and corrupted aura that tended to surround her own, almost as if to leech off some of that brightness. Everything about her seemed light and happy, like a breath of fresh air into deprived lungs.

Sasuke didn't deserve to hold so much of her light in his arms but he'd be damned if he let anyone else. A slow predatory grin split across his lips before his hands tightened around her slender waist, warm nose brushing softly against her jaw and neck, breathing her in.

Suddenly, the sounds of rather slow and measured footsteps had broken their moment of peace and quiet. The thought of what was to come only made the atmosphere tense and stuffy. Hinata's dainty brows curved in confusion when she realized that those women weren't supposed to come back again. At least not until another 5-6 hours if Sasuke's measurement of the time was anything to go by.

"Uchiha-san?" She whispered cautiously when their cell door slowly creaked open, the sound of metal grating against metal. Sasuke's eyes narrowed in response. The fiery red hair made his anger skyrocket as he recognized the face of the woman that had bitten his girth in an attempt to arouse him hours ago.

The wide mouth was smirking rather slyly at him before green eyes darted to the petite woman in his arms.

"Playing house are we?" The suspiciously eerie voice gave Hinata the goosebumps.

The woman's voice was too sharp, too scary to her senses with that dark and sinister aura crackling around her in a menacing and evil way.

Hinata had not heard this voice before.

"It's too bad that the mistress is going to _kill_ off the little bitch soon," another voice that Hinata recognized said. The lustful eyes of the red haired woman was settled firmly onto the Hyuga's innocent form as the brown haired woman smirked in response, eyes glinting in a knowing way.

It was as if Hinata could feel their intentions when she huddled closer to Sasuke in fear as his arm tightened around her slim waist in reflex, dark eyes narrowed into a sinister glare that did not affect them.

"You still have some time to play with her, Qiu-sama," the brown haired woman drawled, perched against the door of the cell as the red haired woman came closer to the couple on the floor.

"I've never been with a woman before. This should be something new. After all, you sure are the pretty little bitch." Qui's eerie response made Hinata's nerves fray.

Sasuke frowned, a growl threatening to escape his throat as Hinata was mercilessly torn out of his hold and tossed onto the ground as if she weighed nothing. Delicate limbs painfully slammed ruthlessly to the ground when Hinata tried to regain her breath, body trembling in realization.

The older woman proceeded to shove his helpless and blind cell mate onto the ground before straddling the petite girl's waist. The blind girl gave a yelp of fear, arms flailing madly in response to her terror but to no avail. The woman was much more stronger and faster than she was.

Hinata blinked away tears, pushing and screaming weakly as the woman fondled and molested her flesh. The woman's wide mouth latched onto her neck, sucking and biting violently as she thrashed with all her might, tears streaming rivulets against flushed cheeks.

She didn't dare use her chakra afraid that she would ruin any chances of their escape but without her chakra, she was useless to defend herself. Her arms were too weak to fight back from lack of proper nutrition in this last week and a half and because of that, her defenses were easily torn down by the red haired woman.

Tears welled and dripped down the side of her face as her legs kicked and flailed trying to push the stronger woman off but she failed to up-seat her.

"Uchiha-san! U-uchiha-san! _Sa-Sasuke_!" She sobbed out in complete agony as he felt a sharp pinch of anger envelope him.

His nails dug into his flesh until blood welled, hands clenched into fists, knuckles white as he tried to look away but found that he couldn't.

She had called his name.

Not Naruto's.

 _His._

 **Sasuke Uchiha.**

She wanted him to save her but unfortunately, he wasn't anyone's hero. He was strapped to the wall like some animal without any chakra left in his body. How could he save anyone when he couldn't even save himself?

 _Damn it._

The sound of tearing fabric caught his attention again as he watched the wretched red headed woman tear the front of Hinata's shirt open, her lacy white bra promptly ripped off with it.

Half of her body laid bare to his gaze, breasts heaving in distress as she struggled to cover herself. The older woman wouldn't have any of it and forcefully grabbed both of Hinata's delicate wrists before slamming them painfully above her head causing rounded breasts to arch upwards into the air.

He shouldn't have been aroused at such a despicable scene but his body seemed to have a mind of its own now as he hardened watching the strangely erotic struggle.

"Your flesh looks so edible, little mouse," the red haired woman purred lustily while strong feminine hands groped Hinata's rounded bosom. Stretched lips marked delicate flesh in bright red love bites as the chain rattled from Sasuke's attempt to remove the shackles.

Sasuke could _see_ the saliva coat the Hyuga's neck in shiny strands before the woman's mouth made way across a hardened nipple.

His chest burned with anger and outrage, watching _his_ little Hyuga struggle ceaselessly in utter horror and fear, all the while chanting his name like a mantra.

Sasuke's chest heaved in anger, his arms shaking as the chains were pulled taut until his wrists bled red but still, his useless attempts did nothing to the metal chains that bound him.

A drop of blood trickled down his mouth from how hard he was biting his cheek, his eyes narrowed as if he could kill them with just a glare sent their way.

"Qiu-sama! The mistress is looking for you!" The little girl's call came just in the nick of time, hurried footsteps descended the dungeon and finally the flushed girl who delivered them food daily came to a halt at the scene in front of her.

The shock was prominent in the little girl's eyes and she was quick to divert her gaze. Qiu had slowly removed herself from the sobbing blind girl, licking her lips in enjoyment at the sheer terror and fear shining on that pretty pale little face.

 _Delicious._

"Hm. It seems you got lucky. I will be back little Hyuga and I will get more than just the taste of your lips." The dangerous woman cackled in satisfaction before leaving the trembling Hyuga on the ground with one last sinister look that made the hairs on Hinata's body stand on end.

She could hear the metal creak before a heavy slam of the cell doors signaled their departure.

The silence was _deafening_.

Hinata was _humiliated_ , her shirt hung open around her waist, pale flesh red from being mishandled and bite marks covered her neck and chest in varying amounts. She pulled herself up to at least preserve any bit of modesty she had left, trying to clasp the torn fabric together the best she can while tears continued to roll down her flushed cheeks.

Hinata was scared, terrified and she never wanted Qiu to come back.

But worse of all, she didn't want Sasuke to see her humiliation and weaknesses like this. Swallowing down the last of the hiccups and tears, she couldn't will herself to turn to Sasuke.

She was _mortified_ at the turn of events.

He was the only one to have witnessed all her moments of shame and humiliation.

"I-I'm sorry, S-Sasuke-san." She managed to choke out the words without crying.

Sasuke lowered his gaze away from her trembling form, giving her some privacy to rearrange her clothing with a deep frown on his lips.

The little Hyuga always seemed to apologize for things that weren't her doing. It was her nature to be so demure and bent to people's will while she suffered through everything with a strained smile.

"You don't have to apologize for anything. It isn't your fault, Hyuga. Neither of us wanted this." He replied calmly when she clasped the torn edges of her shirt together successfully with shaking hands.

"I-I-I-I'm not-I'm not strong enough," she choked out, tears streaking down flushed cheeks as she cried again.

Sasuke frowned.

He clearly didn't know how to comfort woman and least of all a helpless innocent woman like her. Seeing her look so lost and hopeless made his chest ache in a way that he had never felt before, like the burning of molten lava or a spreading forest fire until he felt the need to comfort her. Why he even wanted to comfort her was lost to him.

" _Hinata_. We'll get out of here." He stated the words lowly yet confidently as she sent him a watery smile at hearing her name leave his lips. That was the first time he called her by her first name and it caused a flare of warmth and adoration to fill her chest, calming her almost instantly because she knew that he was there.

 _She believed him._

There was no person on this earth that she trusted more than Uchiha Sasuke at the moment.

How _ironic_.

Many people believed him to be a living nightmare because of his demonic powers and abilities, yet he was currently her only anchor to sanity. He was her security blanket of warmth and comfort.

More tears fluttered down long lashes as she tried not to hyperventilate at the older woman's promise to come again and finish.

 _No! She didn't want any of her first times to be with that evil woman!_

The tears calmed when a panicked thought managed to lure itself into her head. Hinata wiped her tear stained cheeks, trembling cold fingers skirting along the skin of her neck that felt inflamed and hot.

Sasuke's eyes roamed across the exposed flesh, narrowed eyes glaring at the bright red bites all across her pale skin. The thought of that vile woman putting her hands on Hinata again made him want to strangle her with his own bare hands until she was pathetically choking to her death.

The hickeys were vibrant against Hinata's alabaster skin, a stain upon her person as he glared at them with dark eyes narrowed in rage.

How he wished to remove them from her person with his _own_ mouth.

"Come here, _Hinata_ ," he called, watching as she tied her shirt around her middle in a makeshift tie to keep the torn edges together to reserve what was left of her modesty. He could still see the curvature of the rounded breasts but chose not to comment on it lest she burst into tears again.

Her clothes had outlived their purpose now and Sasuke couldn't help but note that modesty wasn't much of a concern to him anymore. Those bitches had managed to rid him of that permanently.

He calmly clenched his fists before releasing them when Hinata obediently crawled to his side and once again enveloped herself in his heat, lithe arms circling his tapered waist and cold wet cheeks pressing into his neck. She inhaled softly, cold nose brushing tentatively against his warm skin to calm her fragile emotions.

And his dark brows furrowed in unease and irritation. Sasuke couldn't help but note that Hinata smelled of that woman now, the heavy perfume made his hackles rise because of its familiarity.

An ugly frown perched upon his thin lips before his nose pressed into her hair.

"You're freezing," he calmly stated into her silken hair as she smiled into his neck. She leaned into his arms, barely missing an open cut wound on his shoulder as she burrowed for warmth. The minutes ticked by as Hinata tried to find the right words to convey what she wanted. The idea was preposterous but she wanted to try.

"S-Sasuke-san?" She whispered softly, her warm breath heating his naked chest as she titled her head to look up at him, lips accidentally brushing his jaw when she miscalculated his position.

Sasuke stiffened.

In her mind, she didn't realize that Sasuke was looking down at her in return. Her cheeks flushed a deep pink as she swallowed.

 _"Hm."_

She could feel the vibrations of his words against her ears as she trembled again, though this time it was not from the cold. Her body always seemed to respond to his voice in the oddest of ways but she was sure that she always wanted to hear him speak, no matter what he said.

"I-I don't want m-my first kiss to be wi-with her." She slowly told him her fear, waiting for him to catch the meanings behind her words and her ears turned red. Her voice was slightly shaky but she was adamant.

Sasuke glanced down at her, watched her blush spread downwards.

 _First kiss._

He frowned. His first kiss had been with the dobe. But somehow, he didn't want to speak about the blonde in front of Hinata.

He knew what she was asking, that hesitant purse of her lips, embarrassment blooming across her pretty cheeks was a dead giveaway. Sasuke had been one of the smarter ones in their class after all.

"You will have to tell me what you want, Hinata." His breath warmed her cheeks as she turned her head away and he found that she was adorable while floundering in embarrassment like this.

"I-I-Can you k-kiss me, Sasuke-san?"

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A/N: It feels really odd writing about woman on woman action but this is a major turn around for my story. Hope you guys enjoy and remember to review my pretties! :)


	7. Chapter 7 : Humiliation

Chapter 7 : Humiliation

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"I-I-Can you k-kiss me, Sasuke-san?" She whispered bravely, her words barely audible when she buried her head into his chest, lips dangerously close to one of his nipples as she spoke and the flesh puckered in response.

He could feel a smirk form on his lips when he found himself pondering.

 _Was she willing to give him all of her firsts?_

The silence was almost palpable and Hinata felt her heart _seize_ in rejection, "I-I-I mean-I-I'm sorry! I-I shouldn't have asked. Y-you you don't have to if you- - -"

"How can I kiss you if your keep babbling, Hinata?" His hot breath warmed her cheeks as Hinata calmed visibly, sinking back into his chest; although, her back was still ramrod straight in anticipation.

 _Really, what was she thinking?_

Her cheeks burned like a thousand suns and there was nothing she could do to make them stop.

His large hands moved her around to face him, lithe fingers curling underneath her chin to tip her head upwards. Her gaze was downturned in embarrassment, cheeks blushed prettily while eyes slightly wet with long sooty lashes trembling in suspense like the wings of a butterfly.

Sasuke's fingers grazed her flushed cheeks, wondering how her skin could be so soft and smooth like the petals of a flower. His calloused thumb smoothed her plump bottom lip in slow sensual swipes before he tipped his face downwards to study her flushed cheeks.

She could feel his hot gaze on her face and her heart had seemingly stuttered a couple of beats in response.

Hinata's eye lids drooped downwards before closing, long lashes curving against her pretty cheeks as puffs of warm air pillowed his chin.

 _She was too trusting._

He could have easily bitten off her nose and she wouldn't even see it coming.

He _could_ have.

But he _wouldn't_.

After all, her lips looked far more tantalizing at the moment.

He smirked boyishly before dipping his face down to capture the innocence he had _always_ wanted a taste of. Sasuke's lips brushed softly, tentatively in a chaste sort of kiss, memorizing the dazed expression on her face.

Her lips were unimaginably soft with each brush of his lips against hers. They were warm and pliant, molding and parting with his own touch as he maneuvered his mouth over hers, slowly but surely putting more pressure with each kiss. Her breath came out in harsh pants, fluttering his hair in her nervousness.

Sasuke's bangs touched her cheeks when his big hands collected her soft pliant body closer, fitting her petite form tightly against his naked masculine one when he deepened the kiss. Her legs had parted over his lap, straddling his naked thighs in sensual intimacy as he kissed her pretty mouth with a fervor that could have matched a drowning man seeking air. Their chests were pressed tightly together, urgently pushing closer until there was barely a gap between them.

Sasuke's lips were held firmly against her own, molding every contour of her mouth with his, wanting to swallow every bit of her that he could touch.

She tasted sweet on his tongue, vanilla and honey and something that was all Hinata.

Sasuke could taste innocence, sunlight and _life_. And he couldn't seem to get enough of her.

While her hands settled onto his chest, feeling his heart steadily beat faster and faster just like her own was.

Hinata had imagined that it would have been unbearably awkward because of her inexperience but it truly wasn't as she thought as she copied his movements. Sasuke always outperformed her expectations and even his kisses left her mouth tingling with a brand of his own fiery passion.

This only proved to Hinata that Sasuke was passionate in everything he did, he excelled and made sure no other could ever measure up to him and she was assured that no one could _ever_ kiss her the way he did. Not that she felt comfortable enough to let anyone else kiss her.

 _Only Sasuke._

Her toes curled as a pleasured sigh left her lips, leaving him an opening to probe her lips with his tongue before the slick appendage plundered her mouth in a passionate embrace. The soft moan breached past her swollen lips, wanton and lusty against his ears when their tongue met in a slow duel.

Her knees felt weak and a foreign warmth filled her lower belly as she pressed herself closer to him to fill the ache. She could feel something hard poke her inner thigh but ignorantly chose to ignore it in her embarrassment.

Before long, Hinata felt light headed as her eyes rolled back, lungs heaving for air as he seemed to steal all the breath from her.

Sasuke's lips regrettably left hers with a slick pop, a strand of saliva attaching their lips together before he kissed it away.

" _Breathe_ ," he urged as she finally gasped for breath, body fully held up by his own. His lips pecked the corner of her mouth, softly, almost longingly before completely pulling back to watch her kiss swollen lips part as she panted for air.

 _When had she stopped breathing?_

Their pants seized the room in a choke hold, warm breaths mingling and bodies mashed together in a carnal embrace.

"T-thank you," she whispered shyly after catching her breath, a delicate blush on the tips of her nose when his long fingers tucked a lock of her hair delicately behind her ears.

Hinata could definitely see why all the girls chased after him now and deftly noted that kissing Uchiha Sasuke was a _very_ dangerous past time.

His strong arms lifted her slim form before depositing her in between his legs in a much more comfortable position, for him and for her, against his heated body. He didn't think he could stand it any longer if she kept pressing closer against him and his erection.

Her flushed cheeks pressed against his heaving chest, long lashes tickling his skin with every movement of her eye lids. Hinata slouched slightly, pressing her bottom closer before almost jumping when a rather hard and blunt object poked her back while she tried to remain as still as possible.

Perhaps the poison was still in his body.

There was no way that she could arouse him in that sense, right?

Hinata licked her damp lips and could still taste him in her mouth, raw and manly and like the tingle of lightning on her flesh.

 _She liked how he tasted._

"How much of your chakra can you control now, Hinata?" His husky voice breached her thoughts when she pulled into her self after they had both managed to catch their breaths. She noted that her body had managed to reserve a medium well of her chakra while bits and pieces of the rest are stolen from her.

"N-not too much. A-almost forty percent," she replied, fingers curling into her chest as Sasuke's head whirled with different calculations.

A thought soon clicked into place and a dark smirk promptly graced his lips.

The success rate is at least _70 percent._

Sasuke was never one to jump head first into a battle, like a certain blonde he knew, without looking at every aspect of the fight first. His calculations were always right. Sometimes certain people caused a slight deterrent to his plans; none the less, he _always_ prevailed.

"Try to collect more of your chakra. Tomorrow we will escape." He stated the words rather confidently, voice still slightly husky and deep to show that he was also affected by her like she had been by him. And a small smile perched onto the bow of her lips when his hand tightened around her waist, bringing her flush against his body again.

Sasuke didn't want to be hasty but those words from the two bitches about Hinata's execution had somewhat spurred him into action. Why and what caused it was completely blocked from his mind as they both waited for the time to pass.

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Almost like a planned schedule of sorts, their food was delivered and right after, the women came back for him. He was glad that it was him and not his Hyuga.

Someone so delicate and fragile would surely break under the torture that they had bestowed upon him. The thought of her delicate body broken beyond repair laying on the ground in her own blood, eyes wide and blank in death made his stomach curl in anger and rage. But the thing was, he didn't know why. Why would it anger him? Why did it make him feel extreme despair and rage to the point of destroying the whole earth?

His mind, for the first time, failed to conceive an answer.

But Sasuke decided that he would never let that happen, someone like her did not deserve such a cruel and unfair fate. Such a fate could only be the imminent future of their captors, only they deserve to die in a much more gruesome and torturous way.

His eyes opened, watching the two woman enter with wide smirks on their face as if they knew what the 'Mistress" had in mind for him today.

In a timely manner, they had dragged the Hyuga off of him before kicking the poor blind girl several times for their own sadistic pleasure. Their sharp nails dug and drew blood on his arms as they collected him from his perch rather hastily without caring that they were cutting his skin open from their rush.

They hauled his mangled body with them up the stair steps, but not without kicking the Hyuga when they walked past and leaving the small Hyuga huddled in on herself with tears wetting her cheeks.

He could see how she floundered from the corner of his eye, reaching out for him but, sadly, grasping onto nothing but air.

 _Pitiful._

Sasuke's jaw clenched hard until his teeth ached from the forceful pressure.

His knees started bleeding again by the time they had dragged him into the main ' _play_ ' room. Dark maroon colored silk curtains graced the walls and backdrop when they deposited his heavy body onto the floor with a sickening thud and then, silence.

The candles flickered eerily like in a scary movie and he was assured that this was more than just a scary movie.

 _It was a never ending nightmare._

But this nightmare was something that only a wicked and sordid creature like the 'mistress' could conjure up. Because she was the only one with such a demented and delirious mind.

Her appearance into the room made the atmosphere drop at least one hundred degrees for him and he stared at nothing in particular to keep his mind off of the torture to come.

The carnal _creature_ of his torment took a seat onto the bedding, blood red lips stretched into a lusty knowing smile that promised unimaginable pain and pleasure. Obviously, the pain and disgust would be for him while the pleasure would be for her.

His stomach turned in disgust and the thought of throwing up was inevitable but Sasuke quickly forced it down with steel strong resolve.

Then, he watched them drag a lackluster male from the bed and easily deposited the man next to him. Sasuke could only imagined that this was their next conquest. The other male's head lulled to the side. By the rigid form, Sasuke could tell that they had drugged him and had been playing with his body ruthlessly, possibly for hours on end now.

 _No man could take the torture._

The room smelled musky from the scent of semen and sweat. Blood was only an aftertaste.

Sasuke's lungs heaved when the mistress gripped the back of his head, long nails digging into his scalp before catching a handful of his dark hair in a hard grip that made his skin twitch from the burn.

Her hand smelled thickly of bodily fluids, blood, and semen. And it made his stomach turn revoltingly as did her face.

"My favorite _pet_ , I have a surprise for you." She chuckled darkly, haunting his vision with her evil grin and sinister gaze. He didn't even want to know what the surprise was.

Before long, the two women flanked him, holding him down into a kneeling position when the brown haired man was pulled into a standing position before Sasuke's vision. His head whirled in circles when he figured out what they wanted. Sasuke's fingers tensed, stabbing sharply into his palm until the knuckles were white and bloodless, until blood dripped down in droplets to stain the ground.

 _No._

He tried to move, tried to escape their hold as their thick nails dug into his skin, holding him anchored when the mistress stepped closer. She chuckled darkly, cackling like a maniacal creature of evil and death.

 _His body failed him._

 _He couldn't move._

Sasuke was abhorred as strong hands pried his mouth open in a crushing hold on his jaw, blood dripping down his face when red nails scratched his skin from the force.

 _Fuck no!_

His jaw clenched as he prepared to bite when her dark voice chuckled out, "D _o not bite, my pet or the consequences will be even more...severe."_

Regardless of her warning, he attempted to bite down.

Sasuke wasn't going to lay down without a fight.

The sharp crack of his jaw unhinging made him unable to close his mouth as the mind numbing pain forced his thoughts away from the current situation.

Nothing could stop it from embedding itself into his memory.

The time seemed to have _slowed_ in his _humiliation_ and _shame_. Indignation inflamed his chest.

 _His eyes closed._

He didn't scream, didn't cry and most definitely did not _beg_.

His pride _demanded_ their death.

They will _all_ die by his hands.

They will burn in hell's fire from his amaterasu.

 _They will pay!_

He occupied his mind with ways to kill them, ways to torture them until their blood formed a river, lest his sanity left him.

 _The time continued to drawl._

His jaw ached painfully and their finger nails dug deeply into his cheeks, keeping his mouth open for the forceful movements that made his head tip back every now and then.

The minutes that passed seemed even longer when the salty and musky liquid finally coated his mouth and throat. He spat a majority out but the vile taste could not be erased. His stomach heaved in disgust and he couldn't help the urge to retch his organs out. The brown haired man had pulled back when Sasuke felt the thick creamy liquid coat his cheeks and chin in vile spurts.

He could hear her evil laughter, knew that she got a high from watching him suffer, watching him struggle to no avail because that was what she lived for.

 _The vile creature was not human._

She waved her hands, laughing gleefully before gliding her fingertips across his cheek, catching the sticky liquid from his chin before promptly bringing it to her lips. Her red lips parted when she licked the substance off, gauging his reaction before chuckling hauntingly in his ears.

His stomach heaved again when they suddenly shoved him over and Sasuke could feel a handful of his hair being ripped out. The wood slid painfully against his hands and knees when they lifted his bottom into the air.

His face slammed onto the flooring as he was taken in a more _demeaning_ and _shameful_ way.

His vision darkened.

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A/N : I'm sorry for this chapter guys! I almost cried writing this. This was way too emotional and dark for me but I couldn't not write it! Thank you for the support you guys! Revenge will be sweet, I promise.


	8. Chapter 8 : Remorse

Chapter 8 : Remorse

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The sound of soft sobbing awakened him from his traumatic slumber. Bleary black eyes opened to the darkened room before he found her shimmering orbs filled with tears and full of unknown emotion.

 _Hinata._

The rag softly wiped the corner of his mouth and lips, cleaning the sticky fluids off of him before moving downwards to his chest.

 _She knew._

Bile built in the back of his throat when he shoved her away from him, an ugly snarl making his features gruesome to look at.

Sasuke's pride hung around him in tatters and he couldn't help the rage and helplessness that filled him to the brim. Disgust and self hatred loomed at the forefront of his mind like a raging toxin that threatened to eat away at him.

His aura lashed out at her in anger and resentment as she curled her own around him, blanketing his force with muffled sobs that threatened to consume him.

 _No._

He will _never_ falter.

He will never _break!_

" _Please! Please, Sasuke_!" She whimpered brokenly, delicate fingers reaching out when he slapped her hands away. His whole body ached in pain and his head weary from everything.

His instincts told him to hold her close to him until their bodies were molded together to the point where he didn't know where she ended and he began, only she could redeem what was left of his pride and honor. Yet the other part of him wanted to kill her for seeing and knowing how low he had fallen, for witnessing all of his moments of weakness and pain until there was nothing left of him.

"Get the hell away from me!" He shouted angrily at her, forcing her back with another rough shove that sent her toppling back onto her bottom.

She stumbled but didn't waver as she blindly reached for him again, crawling slowly to him with such a pitiful look on her face that it made his whole body tremble in pain.

" _Don't touch me._ " He whispered darkly, eyes narrowed on her trembling form. His skin crawled from just the thought of what he had been forced to endure. He couldn't let her touch him.

He was _dirty_.

 _Soiled._

 _Disgusting._

 _Filthy._

"No!" She quickly launched herself onto him, chin slamming roughly onto his chest as her weak arms wound tightly around his waist, holding onto what was _left_ of him. Hinata had a feeling that if she let go, the wall between them will only thicken until he completely surrounded himself within his own defenses, until his consciousness left him and only a shell remained of _Sasuke Uchiha_.

" _Let go_ ," he bitterly said, yanking her left arm off only to have her cling tighter to his hurting form, fingers acting like a thick vice that would not relent no matter how hard he resisted her. He could have forcefully removed her, could have killed her for everything she has witnessed but his hands laid dormant at his sides, heavy and corporeal.

He wanted to choke her, wanted to made her suffer if she continued to hang onto him but... he _couldn't_.

Her tears were hot on his skin, burning as it slowly trailed down his flesh and dried. It wet his chest as she rested her face into the crook of his neck, sniffling and crying for him.

 _For Sasuke Uchiha._

Memories from days before surfaced in his mind's eye. Her teary face begging those women to leave him alone while receiving several injuries as a result, yet she didn't falter. This was the same woman who had cleaned his wounds and then thanked him for allowing her to do so.

She wouldn't hurt him.

She could _never_ hurt him.

 _Never._

The bile was bitter in the back of his throat when he dry heaved, his stomach twisting and coiling almost nauseatingly. Hinata had quickly brought the bucket to him and he threw up until his stomach hurt from heaving, lungs burning bitterly from his shame.

The bitter and salty taste was still in his mouth even after washing his mouth several times with water. It was embedded, ingrained, into his memory and he dry heaved again.

Even his throat and mouth ached from several reasons that he didn't want to list and he wished that he could be numb. Sasuke's mind felt strangely heavy and foggy, thoughts all seem to leave his consciousness so he acted on instinct.

His left hand caught Hinata's soft wrist in his own before pulling her back into his arms. He was practically suffocating her with how tightly he was holding her to his body but she didn't protest or complain about his manhandling of her. Instead, _his_ Hinata pressed herself closer, held him just as tightly and let him do as he wanted.

 _She trusted him._

Sasuke promptly swooped down and pressed his mouth against her own, letting her taste wash away every haunting memory that filled his mind from the darkest moments of his life.

Would she shy from his touch had she known the types of heinous acts of debauchery that his body had engaged in?

 _No._

Would she kiss him knowing what he had been forced to do with his own mouth and lips?

 _Yes, she would._

Her lips striving to mimic his own and her arms tightening around him said just that.

Even if he was hurting her, Hinata didn't voice any words of refusal and let him ravage her lips, let him mold himself against her until they were so intimately pressed together that she could feel every ridge and every bump of his muscled body against her own.

Hinata could taste bitterness and the taste that wasn't him on her own tongue and couldn't help the tears that welled up in her eyes.

She swallowed them down, forced them back down her throat until her chest burned from her anger and hate.

Hinata had to be _strong_ for him.

Sasuke reluctantly pulled away for air before he smothered her lips with bruising kisses again, mapping her soft lips with his own until his lungs burned for oxygen. His arms tightened around her waist and his lips pressed to the crown of her head when he slumped against the wall.

"I will kill them," she whispered darkly into his neck, lips brushing the flesh with each word that she spoke. Somehow that sounded preposterous coming from her lips. Even her soft voice sounded too innocent to be saying something so maliciously.

"I-I will!" She whispered urgently as he chuckled deeply, the rumbling from his chest tickled her ears.

Yet his chuckle sounded _hollow_ to her ears.

"How are you going to do that?" He sounded amused now, body relaxing against the wall as she followed to lay against him.

She was like a little tigress inside of a kitten's body. Dangerous yet so adorable.

"I-I don't k-know. B-but when we get the chance I will." She murmured confidently into his skin, voice slightly muffled as she melted into him, lips brushing the skin of his collar bone.

 _She wished she could become apart of him._

Sasuke's arms curled around her shoulder and waist, holding her to him like his instincts had wanted, and breathed in her sweet scent. "What of your chakra?" His breath fluttered strands of her matted hair.

"I can't collect any more than forty percent of it," she replied sadly, fingers curling into her lap, prodding her chakra with tendrils of her energy in hopes of catching more and more.

He had given her a run down of his game plan hours ago when they waited and now all they had to do was set it into action and wait for the rest of it to fall into place.

"We only have one shot, Hinata. I want you to give it your all." His fingers tenderly stroked the hair tickling her temple off and brushed it behind her ears.

Hinata nodded into his chest when he pulled her off him till they sat facing each other.

Since the jewel was slowly taking in her chakra, he was going to use that to his advantage.

With that extra bit of chakra that Hinata was able to retain, he was going to have her pour it into his collar.

The collar that leeched from him was filled to the brim each time his body tried to reproduce the energy. If he was right then with just a little more chakra, he would be able to break the damned thing. He had a massive amount of chakra so he knew that it would not be able to ingest even a small amount of Hinata's chakra without trying to spit it back out.

If his calculations were accurate, the blasted collar would not be able to hold any more chakra then it was built to.

Hinata nodded, hands trembling in apprehension and nervousness.

 _She was scared._

She didn't want to let Sasuke down but the words spoken by so many before telling of her failure kept revolving around in her head, against her ears like the imminent chanting of her inabilities. Her body tensed, shoulders lifted and back straight when she took a shark intake of air and closed her eyes to clear the thoughts.

 _No._

 _She is not a failure!_

Pearl white teeth bit into her bruised bottom lip before she raised her hands to feel the evil collar strapped onto the middle of Sasuke's neck. She could feel it quickly leech him of his energy with rapid greedy pulses at any bit of chakra his body tried to provide.

For once in her life, Hinata was thanking every god possible for being born a Hyuga.

She proceeded to pour all of her chakra into him, specifically into the collar as his face contorted in mind numbing pain, blood started dripping down his neck as the collar cinched tighter and pulsed angrily at the swell of energy being forced into it. It bit back at him, choking him of air and burned his flesh like no other. The collar had a mind of it's own as the spikes, formed from silk, stabbed into his throat, scratching his skin before forcing his throat closed as it became smaller in size.

"Do-Don't you fu-fucking dare sto-stop, Hyuga!" He whispered hoarsely, fingers clenched into fists while body rigid with pain, "I can take it."

She was scared that she would _kill_ him.

Her long lashes fluttered as she bent her chakra to her will, sending out torrent after torrent of it. Half of her chakra hit the ceiling and was quickly swallowed by the gem while the other half was consumed by the collar.

Sasuke's body convulsed in timed seizures with her outpouring of chakra and she could smell his burnt flesh and potent blood reach her nostrils. Blood dripped down his lips and chin, splattering onto her hand when he clenched his teeth to keep from crying out in agony.

She had to _succeed_ , for him and for her.

Before long, her vision became muddled when she felt her body give, threatening to shut down but she managed to keep going from pure will power.

 _No._

 _She couldn't fail him!_

Hinata pushed farther, harder, and faster as her breath left her lungs at an alarming rate.

She couldn't breath and even then, she wouldn't stop.

Her chakra started to pull back as if damaged but she forcefully removed it from her body until she could feel it thin down almost to nothing. It felt like hours instead of just minutes when she felt the collar pulse and crack once, then twice before collapsing in on itself.

 _Success!_

Sasuke slumped backwards into the wall heavily, eyes closed as if dead and Hinata's hands immediately reached for him. Her fingers trembled, fearing that she had indeed killed him until she felt his aura whip to life around her.

A wicked smirk formed on his handsome face, dark eyes narrowed into a painfully deep glare as the world lost its luster and stopped spinning on its axis for just that first initial moment.

 _His power was back._

The rush was almost like the high of a drug induced euphoria for him.

His own familiar chakra out poured like the spreading of a forest fire into his body, burning his veins with its intensity while filling every single fiber of his being in power and energy. He had forgotten what it felt like to be powerful, to have all of this energy and chakra ready at his fingertips.

Sasuke's eyes bled red as the Sharingan activated with black tomoe's spinning like a vortex within its depths, waiting to draw in any soul foolish enough to cross him.

And his aura crackled to life, threatening to consume the whole building until he quickly reigned it back in. He forced his own chakra to recede back, deep inside of his body and lay dormant with a small feat. Sasuke could feel small bits of Hinata's chakra caress his wounded flesh until it was expelled forcefully by him to stop it from trying to heal his wounds. Unconsciously, even her chakra cared for him and it was an odd thought to him.

"S-Sasuke?" She had ended up dropping all honorifics in urgency and worry, hands reaching out but unsure of herself.

His big hands caught her slender fingers and she was pulled back into his arms where she _belonged_.

Hinata's cheeks flushed when she sighed in relief and she quickly took a greedy gulp of air to her deprived lungs.

Sasuke's blood was matted on his flesh and colored her temples as she sobbed for him, wetting his chest as he panted painfully into her hair.

With the last bit of her chakra, Hinata quickly healed the wounds on his neck so that those vile women wouldn't be suspicious of Sasuke tampering with the collar. Her arms wrapped loosely around his waist, face pressed into the crook of his neck, lashes fluttering as she breathed in his scent.

 _She had spread her chakra too thin._

She had forced almost everything that she had in order to break the collar and he could tell that her energy won't be returning at least for a long while after their escape.

Hinata was weak and tired again, completely drained from the intense chakra outburst to break the hold of the collar. Her limbs felt like jelly while her brain threatened to shut down with each passing second.

The seconds continued to pass until Sasuke could hear her soft and slow breathing.

His tapered fingers caressed her peacefully sleeping face, sweeping strands of matted hair to the side to keep from obstructing her skin from his touch.

He couldn't help the dark chuckle that bubbled from his throat rather maniacally, anger and murderous intent forming a barrier around them as he glanced down at her extremely weary form for the first time.

He would slice those vile repulsive women into ribbons and dice them until they were completely unrecognizable, even in _death_.

He would strike them with the element of surprise. But first, he had to torture them until they begged and screamed for mercy only to know that there would be _none_.

A sadistically malicious smirk darkened his features as he cradled her flaccid form closer to his body.

Now they wait for the _inevitable_.

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A/N : Yo peoples of the interweb! It's almost show time for Sasuke's revenge and I can't help but chuckle evilly when I write the next chapter!


	9. Chapter 9 : Despair

Chapter 9 : Despair

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Those wretched women had come again like always.

But this time, both Sasuke and Hinata were prepared for what was to come and they both anticipated it.

The brown haired woman and the woman named Sumi both carried similar knowing smirks when they entered the cell. Dark brown eyes immediately flitted to the Hyuga's battered and beaten form, foretelling that something was definitely going to happen to the Hyuga.

A chill swept across Hinata's body before she shrunk back into Sasuke's arms, swallowing down a lump that had formed in her throat at the knowledge of what was to come.

Her stomach lurched when Sumi grabbed a fistful of her hair and tossed her off of the Uchiha. The searing pain from the abuse threaded through every nerve fiber in her body and made Hinata grit her teeth hard to keep from crying out.

Sumi watched the long dark locks of hair, jerking the girl up and about with a handful of the silken strands and watched her follow along like a puppet on a string.

The Hyuga girl didn't fight them anymore. The bruises were prominent on her arms and ribs, perhaps one bone or two had been broken in their assault of her.

Her face was deathly pale as if sick and on the verge of passing on. She could barely keep her eyes open enough to even know what they had in mind for her.

 _Serves her right._

The other woman quickly unlocked the shackles and dragged Sasuke's flaccid body upwards before Sumi pulled Hinata's stumbling form back and dragged the both of them up the stairs.

Hinata hadn't expected them to bring her with them. Perhaps, their Mistress wanted to kill her off now like what Qiu and the other woman had said some time ago.

 _She trembled._

Sasuke reigned his powers back, almost relaxed even when his skin burned from being dragged once again onto the hard ground, wounds reopening and bleeding by the time they were tossed into the play room. The bloody mess on his shin and thighs created a puddle of blood wherever they dragged him.

Just as they were both forcefully dragged into the 'play' room, Hinata's nose wrinkled in disgust at the scent of salt, sweat, musk and the smell of that perfume that always stained Sasuke's skin.

She could feel the swaying aura of darkness before them several steps away, dark and corrosive like some sort of sinister poison.

The mistress was bouncing on the other man's body, naked as the day she was born and Sasuke almost gagged as he noticed that the man beneath her had been dead for a while now. Blood had dried on the bed sheets as dark as night and even in death the poor man was still being assaulted by this disgusting woman. He really shouldn't be surprised anymore.

 _Repulsive._

 _Vile._

He swallowed down his intentions, glancing around the room until he finally saw the glowing staff settled onto a stand in the back of the room. Dark energy was centered inside of the ruby red gem housing it. From his stand point, Sasuke needed something to distract the four women in the room in order to get a hold of the damned staff but he didn't want to risk having the mistress call the staff to her before he could destroy the well of power.

The staff itself was a rather old relic with mysterious powers in its depths. Once he was able to destroy it, the enchantment and power these women held would be no more.

His brain was working in over drive as he calculated every single outcome in his mind's eye.

The mistress threw her head back and moaned loudly, long nails scratching the dead males chest in vicious streaks as she bounced on and off of said dead man's body.

Hinata didn't have to see to know what it was that the mistress was doing. The sounds of her lewd moaning and bouncing was enough to put even a whore to shame. Oddly enough, Hinata could feel the dimmed and lifeless aura of the man that the mistress was on and almost threw up from the idea of what was happening.

 _Necrophilia_ existed after all.

With a piercing screech loud enough to burst eardrums, the vile woman finally removed herself off of the man and slid off of the silken sheets to watch the Uchiha with bright amethyst colored eyes. A satisfied smirk graced her bold red lips.

"My favorite pet and the little _Hyuga_ bitch. She is a rather pretty little thing, hm?" She cooed flirtatiously, wiping off the sweat on her brows from the intense ' _workout_ ' before she crouched down to Hinata's level, dirty hands daring to grab Hinata's soft chin in her hold.

Sasuke's blunt nails bit into his palm as he held his breath and forced his anger down before it could take a hold of him. His muscles coiled under his flesh like a cobra waiting to strike.

 _Just a little more._

Hinata had frozen in complete fear, spine bowed in her own horror as she floundered in nervousness and apprehension. "You may have the little bitch once I am done _deflowering_ her, Qiu." The woman whispered the words wickedly, her sharp nails caressing Hinata's bottom lip and cheeks with a soft touch that left a hint of strong perfume and vile musk behind.

The red haired woman frowned slightly at the implications, annoyed green eyes narrowed on the trembling little Hyuga and her naked mistress.

 _She was supposed to have the little Hyuga heiress first._

The Hyuga's cold dainty hand curled around the older woman's wrist firmly, finding her center just with that soft touch in order to map the wicked woman's chakra pathways.

Just like Sasuke wanted, Hinata would give him the distraction he needed with this last bit of her chakra.

Hinata quickly tried to gather all of her chakra into her palms when white blinding pain threatened to tear her soul apart. She blinked down the tears and forced what was left of her tattered chakra to bend to her will.

 _It hurt so badly._

With deft precision, even for a blinded woman, Hinata slapped the dark haired mistress back with quick blurred movements of the gentle fist.

Her anger fueled her chakra ablaze and with a sickening crack, her small fist met the startled woman's face, leaving her momentarily incapacitated with blood dripping down her nose and lips from a severely broken nose.

A dark smirk graced Hinata's innocent face in satisfaction as she knocked the taller woman off kilter several times with more painful jabs to the gut and heart.

The brown haired woman hurled her body into the Hyuga and was deftly thrown off with a gentle fist straight to the abdomen, arm, and leg in a blur of fast hand movements from their petite prisoner. The evil woman was knocked out of breath and in pain as her chakra pathways shut down.

His little _kitten_ had a lot more bite than he thought.

The red haired Qiu immediately darted for the silver eyed girl only to be forced back with a chakra filled palm to the chest and neck. However, the stronger woman was undeterred, she grabbed a handful of obsidian tresses and tossed the blind girl sharply into the wall with a hard forceful slam that brought tears of pain to Hinata's eyes. The sharp gasp of pain from the petite woman could not be missed.

Sasuke had waited until both Qiu and the brown haired woman came at Hinata before powering all his chakra into his body and blurred himself straight to the staff.

Amethyst eyes from the mistress widened when the Uchiha heir deftly aimed for the staff. With a few quick words of incantation the staff levitated and was propelled forward by black magic only to have the Uchiha's chakra filled palms grab onto it.

His flesh burned upon contact and his whole body was lifted with the dark staff, heading straight towards the mistress's outstretched palms at an alarmingly quick pace but not before his left palm settled over the ruby red gem.

With all of his power and might, the chidori crackled to life, lighting the room in brilliant swirls of mesmerizing flashes of light until they could hear the horridly loud and painful chirps from thousands of birds. The jewel groaned out in protest before it cracked in his palm and like a doused flame, the black magic poured out like dark sand upon the flooring before everything went deadly still.

Just like that, the enchantment in the room faltered before completely shattering like a veil of darkened soot.

The many servants that had lined the hall, heading straight to the room from the attack had disintegrated and turned to dust before many of the real human ones could comprehend what was happening.

The whole castle that once burned bright from the enchantment turned eerie and dark. Room after room became decayed and dilapidated with broken flooring and black mold.

The play room itself had lost all of its magic and the once silk and satin curtains had turned to dull cob webs. The maroon sheets disappeared along with the spacious bedding to be replaced with a pile of soot and dust.

" _It's my turn."_ His dark voice penetrated the eerily silent room, deep and sinister to everyone with the promise of death in every word he spoke.

Hinata couldn't help the wicked smile that graced her lips as Qiu pressed the heiress' scratched and bleeding face harder into the wall only to be ripped off in a flurry just by the might of Sasuke's chakra.

 _It felt good to be back._

Sasuke released his energy and chakra fully, choking nearly all those in close vicinity to him before his genjitsu forced them to freeze to his command.

But first, he needed to protect that which was his before the real fun can begin.

With that thought, his heavy foot deftly kicked the red haired woman out of his way before he knelt down to Hinata's level. She smiled brightly yet timidly up at him through tousled hair and marred cheeks.

 _Tired and weary._

Strong hands brushed obsidian colored tresses out of her pale face, delicately brushing the welt forming on her chin and the bump rapidly forming on her forehead before collecting her soft languid body into his arms in slow practiced motions.

She had almost immediately melted into his arms with a pleased sigh of relief and contentment.

He didn't want her to be in the same vicinity as these women when he started their slow and torturous deaths. She was too bright and too innocent for that.

Her cold nose bumped his collarbone while spindly arms wrapped around his neck to settle further into his embrace. His footsteps were steady and he did not want to jostle the delicate woman any more than he had to.

The array of servants lined the hall as he walked past, several pair of eyes following his body but frozen under his spell and unable to run or hide from the nightmare that was to come. For sure, none of them would be able to walk out alive, not if he had anything to do about it.

Sasuke quickly found a room down the hall with a small pallet at the corner before slowly setting her down onto it and reluctantly unwound her arms from his neck.

His lips ghosted a soft kiss to the crown of her head before he said, "Stay here, I will take care of it."

She nodded lightly in understanding, eyes downturned as he quickly set a barrier around the room to which no one would be able to enter other than himself.

"Come back soon." She murmured the words softly, knowing that he heard her when the sound of his descending foot steps came to a halt before disappearing completely.

She _knew_ what he was going to do.

She didn't know to what extent, but Hinata knew there was going to be a lot of blood shed and tremendous pain for those women.

Although bits of her felt _almost_ sorry and apologetic, she couldn't get herself to forgive those women.

Those terrible things they had done to Sasuke and herself were enough to make any feelings of remorse disperse before it could even disturb her senses.

They knew what would happen when they did those terrible deeds and now it is time they reaped what they sowed.

Hinata quickly shook her head to get rid of any way ward thoughts before wrapping her arms tightly around her body to try to retain his warmth until he came back.

 _She would wait for him._

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A/N : Woooo! This is like a sugar rush when I wrote the small fight scene! :)


	10. Chapter 10 : Detrimental Suffering

_**Warning**_ _: Extremely graphic and gory depictions of torture and death. Read at your own discretion._

Chapter 10 : Detrimental Suffering

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The entire building was deadly still, wooden boards creaking eerily as the last Uchiha ascended the darkened halls with his katana strapped at his waist.

He had been able to find a cotton yukata the color of black silk and a light blue silk kimono some time ago before finally coming into the ' _play_ ' room.

The four women were exactly where he had left them, eyes following his movement, wide and fearful of what was to come but unable to escape.

 _There would be no mercy._

Sasuke's eyes flashed, changing color rapidly as the rinnegan activated and he built his own enchantment upon the entire castle, lips stretched into a rather dark and malicious grin. The room seemed to melt and swirl in a vortex of color before it became cold and dark like the dungeons with a high throne chair seated two steps from him.

With his power and abilities, Sasuke managed to slow time down to a trickle so as not to let his little Hyuga wait too long for him.

For these vile women stuck here with him, it will be like an _eternity_ that was passing.

" _Let the fun begin._ " He told them with a slight smirk as he sat down steadily onto the throne, hands outstretched as if welcoming the lot to a party of some sorts.

A _death_ and _torture_ party.

"Let us go, _my pet._ And I will think ab- - -" The mistress tried to speak only to be slammed straight into the wall. The might and force of the illusions and his chakra choking her without his touch. Her naked body dangled, long limbs kicking and struggling uselessly until the scent of urine and defecation, rather foul and disturbing enveloped the room as she was suffocated. Her hands clawed uselessly at the invisible hands that did not exist, saliva dripping down her lips as she lost the ability to close her mouth.

The time dragged rather slowly as they all watched their supposed mistress defecate before them from being strangled. Finally, Sasuke waved his hand and she was dropped painfully onto the ground with a sharp thud almost as if she had broken a couple bones from the small fall.

His face wrinkled in disgust as the woman laid sprawled in her own feces and bodily fluids, gagging and gasping for breath, limbs jerking sporadically.

"Like I said, it's _my_ turn." He bellowed out the words like a mighty king, long bangs shielding his deadly eyes from their view.

Sumi and the brown haired woman tensed when his gaze directed to them, shaking and trembling before he had even touched them.

 _Pathetic._

"Take the bowl and feed it to her," he said, commanding them with his head tipped in Qiu's direction as the white bowl appeared to them in thin air. The substance in the bowl was clear a like to water, no scent and no color but they knew it to be otherwise. This liquid was perhaps even more deadly than any poison or toxin.

The brown haired woman was quick to grab the bowl as she did not want to anger the Uchiha and have him kill her off first. She needed to stay alive long enough to torture him and possibly using him for her own benefit before killing him off.

 _Sasuke smirked._

It was rather pitiful that they didn't realize he was able to hear every single thought they had and see every move they make.

 _To think that they had been able to capture him._

The three women fought each other rather viciously as if they hadn't been friends or comrades before with deft punches and hard slaps. Qiu was pitifully weaker than the other two, bulk muscles had turned to mush once the enchantment from the staff had disappeared and had been pushed to her knees with a sickening slam.

The satisfaction that filled his chest was almost inexplicable as he watched the red haired woman choke and fight, clawing weakly as the poison was forced down her throat, burning her face and lips once it touched her flesh in red and pink welts.

He could tell that Qiu was rather prideful, she would rather die than grovel or beg for mercy from him not that he cared if she begged or screamed.

She smirked fiercely, leveling him with a vicious glare of her own before the words left her bleeding mouth, "I still remember how you looked with your mouth and face covered in another man's cum. It was just so delicious. I loved every moment of it. How did it feel to have all that semen in your mouth?"

She proceeded to laugh, sinister mocking laughter billowing from her throat.

His face remained cold to show that he was not bothered by her taunting. In fact, he was not impressed.

It was then that her face contorted in supreme pain, blood as dark as night dripped from her open mouth but she continued on with a maniacal laugh as if nothing could affect her, "Did the little Hyuga bitch kiss that- - -dirty mouth of yours knowing that she c-c-could taste a-another man on you lipss- - -"

The red haired woman gagged and barfed blood as the effects from the poison finally settled in.

The poison was _eating_ her inside out.

The shouts and screams of horrifying pain rippled from her throat, choked and muffled as she puked out blood until a bright red puddle of her own life fluid formed beneath her body to Sasuke's satisfaction.

Her mind was already long gone before her body started failing when he had sent her into a genjutsu far too advanced for her to ever crawl out of.

Long nails tore open her shirt before plunging straight into her stomach. She scratched her skin until it bled open, entrails slick with blood, bubbling as the poison digested in every fiber of her body.

It was mesmerizing to watch as she literally tore her skin open and dragged her internal organs out, scratching and tearing with sharp nails at the pain that filled her entire body.

He wanted to see how long would it take for her mind to catch up with her body and how many organs can she scratch out before her brain finally shut down.

The numbers seemed to increase when her nails punctured her kidney and lungs, blood making her features aghast and her body was starting to match her deep red hair.

Sasuke slid further into his chair, enjoying the show in all of it's gruesome and grotesque glory. It was entertaining but it was _missing_ something. Something more _cruel_ and _evil_.

Tapered digits slid across each other when he snapped his fingers from the idea that formed.

The dead man's body that the 'mistress' had been abusing stirred and suddenly came to life behind him. His eye's were lifeless and zombie like as he approached the mistress in sharp jerky movements, blood raining down from his skin, dripping puddles as he walked.

The once dead man had dragged the squirming mistress up by her hair, ignoring her screeches and scream from the pain as handfuls were ripped out from her struggling. None the less, he shoved the flailing woman face first into her own defecation before taking place behind her.

Sasuke waited.

Suddenly her body tensed completely, pain flashing across her body when the loud moans had turned to shrieking, screeching so loud almost everyone could hear the pain and terror in her voice. She thrashed wildly, tried to push the corpse off of herself to no avail as the dead man's body doubled in size, then tripled and finally quadrupled till his shadow covered her whole body. Big hands grabbed her struggling arms and legs, pulling easily like a ragged doll.

Her body eventually gave way, tearing open in the most painful of ways as she was stretched past normal capacity, fluids mixed with blood splattered onto her kicking legs.

The woman's hip bones shattered from the force while her limbs were mercilessly torn from her body before becoming _decimated_ under the corpse.

He played with her mind, made her unable to comprehend reality from dream when he gave her what she wanted.

In her mind, she was forced to die, over and over again as she got fucked to death. Screaming and crying for the men to stop but it was useless because there was no such thing as mercy in his world.

That word was not in his dictionary when it came to them.

Her dying body laid spasming in rigor mortise when he forced Sumi to drop to her knees before the mistress whom happened to be her birth sister, he had found out from digging through their vile minds.

He was almost giddy with the blood and gore that stained the grounds along with the thought of what he was going to make the other two do.

" _Eat._ " He spoke plainly, almost bored with a wave of his hand like a king to his servant as his chakra choked the younger girl in its full extent.

Unable to fight back, she was bent to his will when her head bowed over.

He didn't _force_ her to eat her own sister.

She could have easily killed herself had she wanted to preserve any dignity she had left, but she chose to bite into the slowly dying woman's arm.

She _chose_ to eat her own sister instead of dying.

 _Pity._

The girl puked up the raw flesh several times to which he forced her to lap back up from the ground and continue with her meal with slight encouragement on his part.

 _The time seemed to drag by now._

Livers, kidneys, lungs, skin, hair, nails, lips, eyeballs. All were devoured by the girl until her stomach had expanded pass capacity almost like a pregnant woman in her 6-7 month period.

Just like he predicted, her stomach had quickly ruptured before she could fully digest her food and the girl slumped over her sisters unrecognizable remains in death.

It had been satisfying in the beginning to torture them but somehow that feeling only lasted for a few moments before he felt _nothing_.

Devoid of that elation or emotion, he felt _empty_ inside; although, he was doing exactly what he had wanted to for these past couple of weeks.

 _How odd._

Perhaps, it was time to return to his Hinata.

Sasuke pulled himself upright before the illusions around him shattered. The brown haired woman was cowering behind Qiu's dead carcass, trembling and seemingly mentally impaired now as he walked pass.

His naked feet stepped over a puddle of blood that came from their bodies before his mighty chakra impaled the brown haired woman and her neck was swiftly snapped.

He had gone easy on the bitch but death was death after all.

 _They will pay for all of their sins in hell._

As he walked, the servants all cowered. They were all stuck in his genjutsu as he made way down the hall to his little Hyuga.

The deafening crack and snap of several necks and spinal cords followed his footsteps as he walked passed, servants of all ages falling forward as their eyes closed as if they were all bowing down to him just the way they needed to.

Moving towards the end of the hall, he let out a breath that he didn't know that he was holding, relief being his sole feeling at the moment.

Large hands pushed the door open and his eyes swept over her feminine form. His Hyuga was trembling, face pale white while cradling her legs to her body in an almost fetal position.

Hinata had immediately recognized his aura as it enveloped over her own like a barrier of some sorts as if to protect and buffer her own. A beautiful smile bloomed on her lips when she tipped her heads upwards to meet his gaze, opalescent eyes shining.

Her bright lavender eyes met his vision and Sasuke felt his body sag. Relief and a sense of belonging caressed all of his senses just at the sight of her, as if just seeing her made all of his defenses come tumbling down.

 _It didn't take him too long_ , Hinata mused. She didn't know that he had managed to slow time down so that she didn't have to wait too long.

"Is it done?" She whispered softly when he knelt down to her level, sweeping her bangs aside with a soft delicate touch before draping the silken kimono around her shoulders. Her dainty fingers grazed the soft fabric before helping him tie it around her waist and over her clothes in order to hide her slender figure from view.

"Hn." His slight grunt made a slight pout purse over the bow of her lips at his rather short reply.

He couldn't help the smirk of amusement that formed on his lips from her pout when his strong arms curled underneath her thighs and hefted her slim body against his chest, hugging her close to transfer his warmth to her chilled body.

She tiredly rubbed her cold cheeks into his chest to note that he actually had clothes on now. It was sort of scratchy and she missed the warmth of his skin on her own but she was too embarrassed to voice any of those thoughts. It felt almost inappropriate for her to think such things.

"Where are we going now?" She breathed out against his collarbone as he walked, maneuvering them over all the lifeless corpses now lining the halls in a mass array.

"Sleep. I will wake you when we arrive." His mysterious reply didn't quite surprise her when he evaded her question altogether and instead of questioning his response like she wanted, she didn't.

She trusted him to protect her, to lead her to safety now even without knowing what the future would bring. Hinata laid her head back against his chest before long sooty lashes soon lowered over pale cheeks and covered lavender eyes from view.

The dilapidated doors creaked rather noisily when he kicked it open, watching it fall from the hinges and slam onto the dirt ground.

The moon hung high upon it's perch and the night air was rather cool against Sasuke's flesh. His arms automatically tightened around her slim waist when hefted her higher into his arms until her lashes tickled his collar bone.

A demonic smirk graced his lips as he carried his precious package.

And just like that, the fires of amaterasu inflamed the entire building, scorching like the conflagrations of hell in black flames that burned heady and strong.

There would be _no survivors._

He had assured that.

After all, _everything_ he needed was in his arms and there would be no regrets.

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A/N : Just to let you guys know, killing people is my specialty haha :) Just kidding. I was a little sickened with the grotesque scenes but thoroughly satisfied haha! Enough of the torture more lovey dovey scenes later! :D


	11. Chapter 11 : Damaged Goods

Chapter 11 : Damaged Goods

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The clouds had slowly dispersed once the sun had met the horizon and the skies cleared once more to the start of a new day. The chill of morning air still hung heavily in the midst of a light fog and it was almost dawn when the little bundle in his arms finally stirred.

Sasuke hadn't been able to find human life within the 100 mile radius and with his wounds, he wasn't able to get any further than that. There were many misshapen buildings and towns that had been ravished by war. Nothing other than wolves and insects inhabited the clearing to scavenge for food.

He wasn't quite sure as to what their location was but he was assured that they were quite a ways from Konoha. The dirt was coppery red while trees grew in abundance with leaves the color of evergreen, very pigmented in color compared to Konoha's own light green. Grass was rather hard to come by; even though, he was assured that it had rained the day previous, yet the lands laid barren with occasional trees.

Sasuke had discovered a small abandoned temple a little further away from the town and had transported the precious bundle in his arms to a small hay bedding he had made before settling close to her to rest.

Before long, her curled sooty lashes fluttered and tickled the skin of his neck, while warm breath fluttered the cotton as she exhaled. Her delicate dainty hands had furled into the fabric of his yukata tightly as if she was afraid that he would leave her once she awoke from her nightmares.

 _Perhaps he would._

He hadn't quite decided what he would do yet.

At first, he had left Konoha to venture out and find himself, to rebuild himself and _recompense_ , only to feel nothing other than emptiness alike to the pang of loneliness before the wretched women came upon him after an engaging fight prior with rogues.

Strangely enough, these women weren't exotic in skin color, rather pale and pasty and did not hunt him down for his eyes or heritage. They all were mainly interested in the pleasures of the flesh and torture with the help of that relic they had.

Had he of destroyed the staff in the first battle with them then none of this abhorring misery would have happened but, unfortunately, he had made a slight error in judgement.

 _He had underestimated them,_ Sasuke mused with a slight irritated frown.

Perhaps the towns near by had been desecrated by them with the help of that dark staff.

"S-Sasuke?" She whispered hesitantly into the lapels of his yukata as he was pulled from his musings to inspect the woman that laid burrowed in his arms. He noted that she had lost quite a bit of weight since their captivity, cheeks still full but having lost the child like quality to them.

Her opalescent eyes were hazy with sleep when she curled herself closer to him, feet wedged in between his shins, the toes slightly cold and chilled when she smiled impishly up at him.

He smirked down at her in amusement.

 _Perhaps he wouldn't._

"Hn." He grunted lightly, watching her rose petal lips purse into an annoyed pout with a slightly amused curl of his lips. "Where are we?" She inquired softly, eyebrows furrowed as her lashes fluttered against the exposed skin of his neck in slow ticklish sweeps.

"A deserted town near the borders of Kotori," he replied, deep voice reverberating warmly from his chest to her face and hands.

She waited for him to elaborate but it once again started going quiet, comfortably so as he tucked her tighter against his chest.

The quiet atmosphere wasn't awkward between them, it never had been before but the questions and thoughts that circled in her mind made for no other action than to speak them before she lost the nerve.

He could see the conflict on her face, the hesitation and the questions she wanted to state but unable to because of her indecision and perhaps, nervousness.

Somehow during their captivity, he had managed to learn to read the Hyuga's emotions rather easily now, it came almost like second nature. Every scrunch of her nose, purse of the lips, or tilt of the head meant something different every time and he found it interesting to inspect her small facial expressions since she was so expressive.

"W-Will you be taking me back to Konoha?" She voiced quickly, albeit softly so as to not anger him.

His lips thinned automatically at hearing the words leave her lips.

 _Konoha._

What _use_ did he have for Konoha?

She could feel his body tense beneath her fingertips, his aura growing in waves around them that formed into solid anger, hatred, and then finally, _nothing_.

"M-my eyes won't be able to heal unless Lady Tsunade looks at them. I haven't been able to feel my chakra anymore since we escaped." She murmured the words rather dejectedly, brushing her nose and lips across the pale column of his throat. Had she been more powerful, like Sakura-san or even Ino-san, she would have been able to help him escape earlier and without enduring the torture and humiliation that those woman had wrought.

 _If only she wasn't so weak._

She had caused her own blindness; therefore, she needed to fix her own problems instead of forcing so many people into it. She couldn't be so _weak_ and _helpless_. She won't let herself continue to be so _useless._

Her dainty fingers curled tightly into his shirt, clutching it with a death grip as she buried her face into his warm chest. The tears burned her eyes and she swallowed them down slowly with the last of her resentment when she finally unfurled her hands from his shirt, smoothing out the wrinkles on his yukata.

" _Gomen."_ The choked reply fell from her lips faster than she could stop it. Her eyes shimmered in the dim light and he frowned in unease.

Suddenly, she quickly attempted to pull chakra into her palms for healing when fast bursts of pain flared all across her body with an intensity that crippled her.

"Stop!" He urgently stated into her ear, forcing her onto her back as she convulsed from the strain. Tears streaked down her pale face rapidly when she lost control.

Her aura burned wildly, lapping against his own like an injured animal but he grit his teeth against the onslaught. His own aura rose to the surface, buffeting hers before forcefully containing it into her body. He trapped her beneath him, forcing her quaking limbs to submit under his weight.

Sasuke's legs trapped her struggling ones beneath him before his hands collected her hands in his own, entangling their fingers together as to not damage her any further. She panted painfully, puffs of warm air pillowing his chest. Sasuke caged her in with his body, watching her expression until she finally stilled.

Her hands trembled in the aftermath. She had never felt anything as painful as that before.

Could she have really _damaged_ herself that much?

Her broken ribs had been jostled in the slight movement and the pain spread rather fiercely throughout her sides. Hinata wheezed pathetically in choked pants, gagging for air with eyes wide open in distress.

 _Why was she so weak?_

"Calm down," he murmured comfortingly, almost reassuringly while pressing his lips against the skin of her neck as he talked.

There were no other options now.

He knew for certain that her well of chakra must have been damaged during their fight against the collar and there was an indefinite amount of time before it could heal properly.

Her wounds were far too severe for them to be waiting any longer. Several broken ribs, cut wounds and head damage had to be healed now or she would suffer the consequences later. He knew he could find any healer but they could do more damage than help if he wasn't careful.

Sasuke didn't want to risk the recovery of her eyes. There are far too many enemies out there who want to kill him and this would also put her in danger because she would be caught in the crossfire if he wasn't careful. Other than that, who out there didn't want their hands on the Byakugan eyes?

Out of the two of them, Hinata was the only one who had the affinity for healing but she would not be able to heal herself due to the lack of chakra.

 _Kuso._

He figured that the only way to keep her safe was to bring her back to Konoha since her byakugan eyes would attract too much attention along with his own mismatched ones.

Why he wanted to keep her _safe_ and _protected_ is lost to him.

"We will return to _Konoha_ ," he stated in finality as her head snapped to him, unseeing eyes watching him. Hinata choked back a gasp, hands trembling as air finally reached her lungs. Her muscles all ached, body strained from the sudden pain before finally relaxing into the bedding.

"Thank you," she wheezed out, a ghost of a smile flitting across her lips while a blush burned her cheeks scarlet when she realized the intimate position they were in.

His body was still seated above her own when his fingers released hers to sweep her matted bangs across her temple. He lightly touch the bump on her forehead and her breath seemed to remain locked in her lungs. She felt his slight caresses across her temple and brow before he finally removed himself from her body but the rapid beating of her heart did not calm.

Strangely, she had felt rather comforted by his touch. Who knew that his touch could be so soft and delicate? Everyone around her had always made him out to be a blood thirsty _monster_ who killed without remorse, without a second thought and his only saving grace was Naruto Uzumaki.

But she could clearly see that Sasuke Uchiha was not a _monster_ and he did not _need_ a Naruto Uzumaki to be his saving grace. Not when he handled her with such care and surely not when he held her close to his body and shared his warmth with her the way he was.

 _Never._

A silly smile smoothed across her lips when he helped her up and her fingers tangled themselves into the sleeve of his yukata as if she was afraid to let him go. True enough, she feared losing him and letting go of him.

 _She only had him now._

"I'm going to go look for food, wait for me." His breath was warm on her flushed cheeks when he smoothed her hand off of his yukata and stood up.

Delicate fingers curled into her palm, dark lashes lowered as she heard his footsteps become smaller and smaller.

She didn't want to seem clingy but she was already starting to miss his warmth and intense aura.

 _What was it like before she had met him?_

Hinata frowned lightly.

She would have probably still be in Konoha working diligently to rise in rank until she reached anbu to prove herself to her father.

 _Preposterous_.

Nothing she ever did would be enough.

Her lips pursed. If she knew any better she would have known that father wouldn't be bothered by her rise in ranks and would probably rip her out of her world to marry her off in hopes that her offspring wouldn't be as much of a disgrace as her.

Hinata picked loosely at a small thread on the edge of her sleeve.

At least she still had Kurenai sensei and her comrad- - _Oh no!_

She totally forgot about them! Her teamates! Kiba-kun and Shino-kun had been hurt immensely when those women had chased after her!

They had taken a lot longer on this mission then was needed so she knew for certain that another team must have been sent out to make sure everything was alright. Perhaps they had found both her team mates and returned them to Konoha to seek medical help.

But then, why had no one come for her? Why had no one rescued Sasuke and her when she needed them most? She was sure that they had been struggling in that cell for far longer than 3 weeks and not once had there been any rescue attempts.

None that she knew of anyways.

Hinata nervously gnawed at her bottom lip, eyebrows pinched in concern.

Sasuke was taking her back to Konoha soon. She would be able to confirm her comrades safety when they returned to Konoha and see what had delayed the search team in finding her and Sasuke.

Suddenly, warm familiar hands touched her thin wrists and Hinata was jerked out of her musings. She cautiously expanded her aura slightly until it brushed against his and immediately sagged into the familiar warmth until their auras blended in unison, comforting and warm.

"I found some berries," he stated, depositing a couple red berries into her palms, cold and damp against her skin as the corner of her lips turned upwards.

"Thank you." Hinata nearly cried from actually being able to eat real fruit, actual real food that didn't make her want to throw up just at the thought of it.

He watched the elation form on her face, absolutely beaming in happiness as she ate the first few berries before finally tossing a few into his mouth.

They were slightly tart with a hint of hidden sweetness that made her relish their taste all the more. She had forgotten what real fruit would taste like from everything that they had been forced to endure.

"Thank you." She whispered quietly, every intonation was full of gratitude and happiness even when he only grunted a reply to her words. The tears that shimmered in her eyes were a complete contrast to the wide smile that lingered on her lips. She blindly gazed at him with a smoldering look of affection and something else that he couldn't name.

He didn't realize that his pulse thrummed rapidly underneath his flesh in a tattoo of foreign rhythm until it calmed down enough for him to continue eating.

Somewhere deep down, he couldn't shake off the feeling that something had changed, something that will completely change his world.

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A/N : Sorry for the long wait for this! :3 I've been busy with work stuff and writers block has been killing me! :) Once again sorry and hope you enjoy! :)


	12. Chapter 12 : Danger

Chapter 12 : Danger

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The afternoon sun beat down upon the dirt path, light breeze fluttering the grass and trees in a small rhythmic pattern. The dark haired Uchiha promptly continued across the dirt path, carrying in his arms the injured Hyuga heiress as if her weight upon his body was less than a grain of salt.

In actuality, Hinata knew that to be untrue.

Her head was resting upon his neck, cool cheeks warmed by him while legs rested over the crook of his arm. Hinata nuzzled the fabric of his yukata, breathing slowly as if asleep but he knew otherwise.

Hinata couldn't help but feel tranquil and at peace. She wished that the days would continue on like this.

On the nights where they hadn't been able to find shelter, both ended up sleeping outside, against a tree or even up on the tree branches when it had rained.

Sasuke's body always seemed to produce enough heat for the both of them against the chill of the night or the slight breeze that made her wounds ache.

All their nights were spent _together_.

She remained settled into his lap and intimately wrapped in his arms until morning and then onward until night and the pattern would start again. Her heart always seemed to beat wildly for him before being lulled into a comforting stutter as sleep took hold. They had traveled a distance now and by they, she meant mainly Sasuke and his summons, Aoda and Garuda.

Her wounds protested far too much for her to walk and instead Sasuke held her in his arms the majority of the way so that her body wouldn't get jostled around and cause her pain again.

His care of her was rather _immaculate._

He always brought her food when she was hungry and stopped travel when she started getting restless or tired and all she did, for the most part, was lay back in his arms as he carried her throughout the journey. She knew Sasuke slowed travel down because of her.

He did most of the hard work by looking for food and finding shelter along with looking after her while she remained mostly _useless._

But never did he complain about anything and she was immensely glad that he never left her behind. She wouldn't be too surprised if he deemed her unworthy of his time and left her in the middle of the forest alone because of her disabilities but she prayed that he wouldn't.

 _She didn't want to be without him._

Hinata had been slightly insecure at times when he left her in search of food, afraid he would abandon her but he _never_ did.

He _always_ came back.

A small part of her wished that the trip would take a little bit longer, that her time with him would lengthen but that would be too selfish of her.

She needed to return to Konoha to see her friends and family. They are probably very worried that she had been missing for so long, yet she couldn't help but think that once they returned to Konoha, things would return back to how they were before. She didn't want to become a _stranger_ to Sasuke again.

 _She didn't want to lose him._

Her throat seemed to tighten at that thought, causing her to panic slightly in discomfort at what seemed to be their imminent future.

She didn't want to leave him, but was it the same for _him_? Hinata had come to understand him for the most part but sometimes she was unsure of what he was thinking. Why did he willingly take care of a currently disabled and useless person like her? What benefit could she bring him other than hindering him on his travels?

Her lips pursed tightly into a thin line, lashes covering lavender eyes from his view.

The sound of birds chirping and forest life had died down miles ago and Hinata could only guess that they were getting closer to civilization or possibly a desert. She prayed that it wouldn't be a desert since she didn't want to be deprived of water or food again. The length of time under captivity was already enough for her.

"There's a town up ahead," he said reassuringly, the deep baritone of his words seemed to vibrate against her head as her ears were currently pressed to his chest, listening to the lulling rhythm of his heart beat.

Perhaps they will get to sleep soundly in a bed tonight.

Sasuke swiftly set her down to her feet as her dainty fingers immediately clasped around his arm to steady herself as it had been hours now that she had been in his strong arms.

Strong hands tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear before sweeping her bangs aside and she felt the rough fabric slide across her face. It had startled her slightly when he wound the fabric around her head and tied it across her eyes, shielding them away from the world.

She didn't need to ask to know why he had done that. It was obvious that her eyes would attract attention and so he had managed to procure the white cotton strip to hide them from possible danger. She knew that there were too many people out there who wanted to covet the Hyuga eyes.

He wanted to keep her _safe_ and the thought kept made her heart stutter a beat before warming comfortably.

Sasuke quickly forced his chakra to the surface, wrapping the both of them in a light genjutsu to alter their appearance and aura's. He didn't want to waste too much chakra on casting an entire genjutsu on the town. Sasuke simply didn't have enough chakra to spare.

After all, his wounds took too much toll on him, forcing his body to slow and deter his movements along with his fast thought process.

"Come." Sasuke led her forwards before untangling her finger from his sleeve to lace their fingers together in a strangely comforting hold, not too tight yet not loose enough for her to let go.

Her cheeks blushed lightly, almost childishly, at the fact that they were holding hands again even though she had been pressed against his body and wrapped in his arms for almost hours on end. She was always attached to him most of the time until he decided to hunt for food and even then, she could feel his presence linger.

Her fingers tightened around his own as he led her forwards when the many scents of food, metal, and other industrial things assaulted her nose.

The stench was strong and made her stomach coil in unease.

There was something rather menacing and evil about the town that they were setting foot into and it made her nervously cling tighter to him as the noises became louder. Out in the forest, the only sounds she could hear on most nights were the rustling of leaves, crickets chirping and other times she could hear the howl of wolves.

This was much more noisier.

Hinata should be used to this since Konoha was also the same with the streets, always bustling with people and the noise was perhaps, even louder. Somehow, she missed the forest life where everything was more tranquil and calm. It was rather peaceful when it was just the two of them.

Where it was just _her_ and _him_ together. No one else.

Hinata didn't have to see to know that they were getting stares, her skin prickled at the sensation of their sharp gazes on her. She could feel Sasuke's genjutsu wrap around her entire body but even then, the people still stared.

She didn't know what he had conjured but it was obvious these people were just nosy about seeing new people in the town.

They picked and prodded with murmurs and words spoken about her and how dirty she was which made Hinata feel very unnerved.

Which she admitted that she was rather dirty with all the dried blood, dirt and grit staining her skin since their captivity. During their travel, Sasuke haven't been able to find any source of water other than the rain water and that didn't help anything.

She didn't smell did she? Her nose wrinkled in uncertainty. Sasuke had never worded anything of the sort to her. Perhaps he was considerate of her and was too kind to voice those words in fear that he would embarrass her, she didn't know.

Her cheeks quickly heated in mortification.

"What is someone like him doing with a girl like _that_?" Someone had laughed rather mockingly. She knew that Sasuke was handsome, he had always been fairly (immensely) popular with the girls even back in school but did she really look like such a mess next to him?

"Probably his sister." Another woman had voiced before they guffawed at her, their gaze hot on Hinata's back. Her lips pinched tightly together before she managed to control her emotions and willed herself to calm down.

She was _not_ his sister.

The icy countenance on her face seemed rather intimidating as Sasuke led her further off and his hand had tightened in her own. It was as if he hadn't heard the obnoxiously loud woman or he chose to ignore them. Perhaps he was used to being talked about wherever he went, the good and the bad because she was assured that the Konoha gossip did not make anyone happy other than the gossipers themselves.

Hinata slowly followed him, fingers holding tight onto his like he was her only anchor to the world. The women continued their gossip and talked. She was unsure of herself now, feeling rather uncomfortable as they picked and prodded her apart with their words.

This was what she didn't miss, the fact that humans can be such judgmental creatures.

Sasuke frowned slightly, noticing the unease that shined clearly on his companions pretty downturned face. It was obvious that the rude women's words were causing her discomfort.

Holding her hand tighter, he pulled her into the inn to the left. The many nins dressed as regular citizens didn't go unnoticed by him as they passed. There were a lot more dangerous rogues in this town than he had originally thought.

 _Tsk._

Sasuke had quickly paid for a room with the sliver of money he had stolen from a civilian when they had passed before the old inn keeper handed them the key to their own room.

Hinata hadn't even realized that he had money on him since she was sure that he didn't when they were in the forest. His yukata didn't have pockets and being that she was attached to him most of the time, she knew he didn't keep anything on him other than his katana.

Perhaps he had ' _found_ ' some, she mused as she followed him further into the building.

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There were many pairs of eyes that had followed the couple's backs, trailing the two rather conspicuously as they walked but only one followed closely.

A man standing next to one of the food stalls quickly spit out the tooth pick in his mouth and settled his calloused hands onto the hilt of his katana.

Even with that weak genjutsu, the bearded man was able to see right through the little trick with his superior abilities.

He was sure that the man who walked past with the blind girl was definitely the bastard Uchiha who had killed off his whole unit of men. He had spent months trying to recollect an army of assassins ever since because of him and yet the Uchiha hadn't even seen him.

 _Cocky bastard._

Even though he tried to hide his mismatched eyes behind those long bangs of his, the bastards pale cocky face was rather hard to forget.

The blind little woman next to him was a mystery though. Flawlessly pale alabaster skin and dark obsidian hair.

Perhaps the Uchiha's little bitch? Well, he had plenty of time to find out. If she was the Uchiha's weak spot then this was going to be too easy.

He was sure that the Uchiha was undoubtedly attached to the blind girl in some way with how he had let the pathetic thing hold his hands and cling to him rather tightly. They could use her as leverage later on. Perhaps once he killed the Uchiha, he could find out what it was that attracted the Uchiha to the little bitch.

He smirked darkly.

 _Things are going to go his way for once._

With a wave of his hands, he gestured for his men to follow him and the many nins had quickly tossed away what they were doing, cracking their fingers and preparing for some 'excitement' that they knew would happen.

"Separate the Uchiha bastard away from the blind girl."

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A/N : Alright... so there's some more drama coming! :) Thanks for reading and do leave some love! :)


	13. Chapter 13 : Fatally Wounded

Chapter 13 : Fatally Wounded

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Sasuke surmised, from the information that he was able to gather, that they were almost four-five days away from Konoha. The continuous travel to reach the town had been rather straining on his body. His wounds had not healed over at all like he had hoped since it seemed that those bitches watched to mar his flesh with their marks for as long as he lived.

A sneer made way to his face as he helped Hinata settle onto the bedding slowly, his body tense and alert for attack.

Although he had hoped that they would be able to rest inside the inn for the night, it seemed that they would have to leave earlier than planned. The rogue nins were not ordinary nins and from the way their eyes had followed him and Hinata, he could tell that they had recognized him if not her as well.

Everything had become eerily quiet and he could see Hinata's shoulders stiffen, brows knitted and fingers curled into a tight fist.

There was a window to their left which he could easily use as an escape route but Hinata wouldn't be able to escape so quickly. His shoulder briefly touched the wood before sliding the door open an inch to see into the seemingly deserted hallways.

Hinata fidgeted slightly, palms growing sweaty with nervousness at the upcoming attack. Her instincts had let her know that there was something coming; even though, she was as blind as she was. Sweat trickled down the back of her neck while lips thinned into a small line at the continued problems that followed them.

Suddenly, an array of footsteps started descending in their direction, trying to be as discreet as possible but they had already tipped off the occupants.

"Get them!" Came an angry shout when Sasuke promptly kicked the window open and grabbed Hinata's hands. He easily lifted her up into his arms before leaping outside and onto the rooftop.

Sasuke's specialty had always been his speed but currently he was a lot slower than he had hoped. He moved with a speed unknown to man as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop with ease, trying his hardest not to jostle Hinata any further but that was a task in itself.

The rogue nins were trailing them fairly closely, giving chase rather fervidly under the command of their leader who was closest to the couple.

With a deft kick, Sasuke landed further into the forest where there was a more suitable area to fight without damaging too many things and triggering other nins into knowing that he was there.

"Stay here." He murmured into her ear, his warm breath ghosting across her flushed cheeks. Strong hands quickly untangled her delicate fingers from the fabric of his yukata before setting her a further ways away from the fight. With that, Sasuke flitted in a blur straight to the running nins.

The nins immediately pulled back startled by his rapid approach because they had never seen anyone move so quickly before. Perhaps even faster than the speed of light!

The leader smirked menacingly before falling back behind his group of men. The Uchiha was making it fairly easy for them, especially with how he left the blind girl unprotected behind him.

From his memory, he knew that the Uchiha was deadly quick with godly strength that was unrivaled by anyone; therefore, he needed any distraction necessary at this point. With a quick glance at the blind girl, he sent the rest of his lackeys to surround the Uchiha while he himself quickly took the other route to secure the blind little bitch.

Sasuke had noticed and frowned as they all flanked him. From what he noted there was way more than 30 of them.

 _Kuso._

His blade was quick to leave it's sheath as he channeled his chidori into it, powering the blade and causing it to glow in blue light along with the deadly lightning of his chakra.

 _If they wanted to die, who was he to stop them?_

All 30 or so of them charged him at once, several clone's multiplying rapidly before his eyes. Without even a bat of his lashes his kusanagi had managed to dispel many of the clones as they disappeared in a cloud of smoke once the sword went across them.

He could tell that they were all _weary_ of him, looking at everything except for his eyes as they already knew what could happen to them if they did.

 _This should be easy._

His sword easily cut them down, the screams of pain and death was almost like music to his ear; although, he _preferred_ silence above all.

A sinister smirk bloomed across his lips, lighting his features handsomely as their blood colored his pale skin red.

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Hinata stretched her palms outwards when she could feel Sasuke's aura envelope her body until her fingers grazed the barrier that surrounded her.

He was protecting her even as he battled further away. Her heart seemed to warm at the thought, a ghost of a smile gracing her lips as she patiently waited, that was until the sound of branches snapping caught her attention.

 _Someone was coming towards her._

She floundered slightly in panic, slender fingers curled into a fist as she waited for them to show themselves. Her heart pumped faster, adrenaline making her hands shake. Sweat collected at her temple, sliding down to wet her brows.

"Come out of that barrier and I won't have to hurt you...too much." He cackled rather maliciously with a hint of arrogance and confidence. His voice was very sinister to her ears and she was not interested in hearing him talk any longer.

She couldn't leave the barrier even if she wanted to but it was obvious he didn't think that.

Sasuke's barrier was meant to keep people out of it along with keeping her trapped inside of it, for her own safety after all. He always thought of the possible outcomes and everything he did was with a purpose. And Hinata trusted him with all of their decisions.

"Well, if you don't want to come out then how about I come get you." He ground out the words with wide mouth grinning viciously before she could hear the sound of metal grating against metal, the sound of a sword being drawn. He was in a hurry now because in the back, he could see that the Uchiha was killing off a lot of his men.

 _He was running out of time._

The Uchiha didn't look up to par with all those wounds bleeding out the way they were but it seemed the bastard had a lot of chakra left. He obviously didn't want to take any chances with that _monster_.

Hinata frowned deeply, lips pursed as she took a step back until she was flat against the barrier, on the other side of the man.

"L-leave, you won't b-be able to cut the barrier down! You will only anger Sasuke more!" she tried to warn him but from his heavy foot steps coming even closer, she knew he wouldn't heed her warning.

He was going to die a very painful death once her companion was done obliterating his group of men, she was assured of that.

"Haha! A regular sword won't do the job right but let me introduce you to my Kusanagi no Tsurugi." He laughed mockingly as she felt the wind change, the evil aura coming from the sword was very appalling.

 _Ku-Kusanagi?_ Sasuke's sword, Kusanagi?

"I-Impossible." She breathed out a sigh of disbelief, brows knitted tightly in response. This sword was not Kusanagi. The real Kusanagi was still with Sasuke.

 _He must be bluffing!_

"You don't look like you believe me, little bird. Let me show you its real powers!" He bellowed like a wild animal before she felt the deadly aura slam into the barrier like an onslaught of fire and lightning.

The sword connected soundly with the grating of metal against the barrier before she felt the slight crack from the top of her head. Hinata's lips immediately tipped into a deep frown, worry marring her delicate features.

 _No!_

Her head whipped over to where she could feel Sasuke's aura whip wildly around, consuming the entire area before the barrier fell around her.

Hinata quickly leaped back, crouched onto her hands and knees as the adrenaline roared in her ears.

The sword barely missed her head as she twisted to the side, blindly using her other senses to try to fight the man off when he swung the sword at her again.

The man had too much of an advantage over her. Most of her fighting skills involved close range contact but with his sword there was no way for her to get an opening.

She swallowed down a terrified yelp before dodging quickly to the left and sliding painfully across the ground. Twigs and stone dug into the palms of her hands and the back of her knees as she tried to evade the man's attacks.

At wits end, Hinata finally attempted to call upon her chakra, forcing it out into her fingertips but failing as her own chakra snapped at her. The pain was immense as tears wet her lashes, forcing her to draw back as if her own soul was on fire.

She barely managed to flatten herself to the ground and roll to the right when the sword sliced across her shoulder and arm, leaving a trail of burning fire in it's wake as it cut her open.

Hinata did not scream as her flesh was ripped open, not even when the fire seared her flesh and burned her skin in agonizing pain.

She was _stronger_ than that. She would not let the enemy have the satisfaction of hearing her scream.

"S-Sasuke." She whimpered his name fearfully and in prayer, her movement lagging as the pain from her ribs and wounds started to hurt her even more. Hinata gasped for air, chest heaving and lungs burning with each intake.

Her body spasmed uncontrollably, arms and legs shaking desperately.

"Say goodbye, sweetheart." He laughed gleefully, watching her turn herself and crawl pitifully on the ground, trying to get away from him while bleeding out in large amounts.

With that slight farewell to her, he dragged the sword upwards over his head, ready to cut Hinata down.

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From the corner of his eye, Sasuke had seen the leader of the group approach his barrier as he tried to fight off the swarm of circling rogues.

The rogue nins hadn't even been able to land a hit on him but they were very good at forcing his hand. They were mainly trying to keep him at bay, distracting him as they kept forming clones to fight him. Perhaps they were trying to buy time for their leader to approach his barrier.

 _Damn it._

He quickly sheathed his sword and brought his thumb up to his mouth, biting into the flesh until he could taste his own blood fill his mouth.

The hand signs were quickly weaved together before he slammed his hand onto the ground. The glowing circle quickly called to his snake summon, Aoda, before any of them can come close to him.

"Get rid of them." He commanded darkly as the snake did as he was told, long tail swiping many clones and destroying them in a matter of seconds. Many of the nins quickly tried to stop his descent but he had immediately cut down any in his way with the speed that none of them can stop or comprehend.

Sasuke's head snapped back to Hinata when he noticed his barrier was being beaten down before finally de-materializing in a show of sparks and light like the cracking of glass.

Sasuke's chakra burned wildly as he flashed to where the leader was, aura a mass of wild and dark energy, lusting after blood and death. The tall man held a blazing sword in his hands, a sword that strangely resembled his kusanagi except for the fact that it channeled fire instead of lightning.

The blade itself had a very sinister aura as it embedded itself into Hinata's abdomen, sending her tumbling backwards onto the ground and pinned there as it cut through.

The man remain unfazed when Sasuke stepped towards them, even as the last Uchiha's snake summon was killing off every single one of his henchmen.

The fake kusanagi dripped with Hinata's blood, staining the ground in rivulets when the man violently twisted it in her gut before ripping it out cruelly.

 _Sasuke's vision bled red._

"This blind girl is important to you, right?" The man asked, a sinister smile formed on his lips, stained teeth peeking out as he grinned almost maniacally in victory.

He swiped his sword against his clothed thigh to remove some of the skin and blood off of the glorious object before clucking his tongue at the blood now staining his pants.

"You will _die_ for touching what is mine." Sasuke snarled out the words, moving much faster than the speed of light even with his wounded condition.

The man raised the sword to defend when the Uchiha's hand grabbed onto the sharp blade, trapping it effectively in his hands before the resounding crack signaled the break across the metal surface. His burnt flesh smoked from touching the blade, sizzling gruesomely but his face remained set in anger and rage, never flinching at the pain that enveloped his hands.

Sasuke effortlessly tossed the top half of the sword away from him, chakra forming an angry barrier around his body.

The older male dropped what was left of the sword, backing away quickly before he was backhanded straight into a tree. His body slammed into the trunk before pitifully gliding to the ground in a mass of hair and limbs.

Before he could even get back up, the Uchiha bastard's bare feet slammed onto his head, crushing his skull violently beneath his feet.

"I'm glad I killed the bitch!" He managed to spit out, blood dripping in between the cracks of his teeth to gush down his face.

Sasuke wanted him to suffer, to beg for mercy as he tore him limb from limb but as his foot stepped more heavily onto his skull, the crack and splinter of his bone was almost satisfying until his foot met air.

The body disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

A _clone._

Sasuke almost roared in anger. The rage was evident on his face until he heard Hinata's slow painful whimper, her lungs collapsing in on itself as she gasped for air.

Spinning around on his heels, he immediately dropped to her broken body, the puddle of blood forming underneath her flaccid form was shocking to him.

 _A medic._

He needed a fucking medic!

Where was one when he needed one?

"Aoda!" He bellowed to his snake summon who was currently still playing with its prey before finally quickly killing them off when his master called for him.

Bunching up the fabric of the silken kimono, Sasuke immediately tried to put pressure on her bleeding wound before ripping off the white cotton that covered her eyes to gauge her reaction.

Her eyes had already fallen closed, brows knitted tightly in pain as she whimpered in agony, fighting for her life as she breathed, breath coming out in short choking pants.

"Don't you dare die on me, Hinata!" His heart pinched tightly as he delicately cradled her slim body to him.

Her lids fluttered, crimson blood dripping down her chin before her lavender eyes met his gaze.

" _Hn_." She grunted softly, a pained smile staining her lips as she attempted to joke even in her agony.

"Master Sasuke!" Aoda slithered quickly to the two before his master fully picked up the rapidly dying woman and jumped onto the top of the snake summons head.

Sasuke knelt down over the summon's scales to prop Hinata against his body and protect her against the wind, holding her tightly against him.

"Take me to Konoha!"

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A/N : So... crazy things happened. Hope you guys aren't too mad at me for the twist at the end! :) Hinata is currently severely handicapped from her wounds, blindness and lack of chakra but I assure you guys that she is not weak. Her progress will show in the upcoming chapters so do hang on there! :)


	14. Chapter 14 : Saved

Chapter 14 : Saved

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It was past midnight when Aoda had finally breached the borders of Konoha. Sasuke couldn't use his chidori's lightning speed in fear of damaging Hinata more and so they could only rely on Aoda and Garuda throughout the trip. They had made the trip within a day with unearthly quick travel instead of the four had Sasuke not used every last bit of his chakra to boost the speed.

His eyes were bleeding from the strain; even though, they had taken occasional breaks to recuperate and feed his wounded companion. Hinata couldn't barely chew the food he had fed her, mostly drifting in and out of consciousness with that forced smile on her lips to appease him even as she laid hurting.

She was too pale in his arms now, trembling from the cold even when he had engulfed her in his warmth. Her skin was turning far too cold to be considered normal and he feared that she wouldn't make it. Just the thought of it made his stomach turn.

He had cauterized her wounds several times, burning her already seared flesh closed with his fire abilities but she failed to recover after that.

She was _dying_ and he couldn't do anything about it. It was just like when his parents were killed right before his eyes.

But he couldn't just sit by and watch her die in his arms.

This was the woman who had willingly cleaned off his wounds first, even when her own was bleeding out. The one who had begged those wretched women to leave him alone even when they had beaten her violently and had cried for hours on end for his sake. The same woman who had stayed by him even when he was forced to engage in debaucherous acts and whose kiss and touch erased every bit of shame and humiliation from his mind and body.

 _He will not stand by and watch her die._

His fist clenched tightly, hugging her gently against his taut body.

Aoda had stopped abruptly at the gates when Sasuke quickly jumped off of the giant snake summon who was quick to disappear so that they would not attract too much unwanted attention. He knew for certain that the guards would be trading off shifts at this time when he finally encountered the new anbu who was guarding. The young male seemed slightly surprise, dark eyes wide at the sight of the last Uchiha, mouth opened to shout when said anbu made the worst mistake of looking into the red tinted eyes.

The genjutsu wrapped around him like a blanket and the guard turned around, went to his station for look out as if he never saw the last Uchiha or the bundle wrapped in his arms.

 _He was running out of time._

Sasuke had quickly scaled the walls, bare bleeding feet slapping over rooftop after rooftop. The town remained quiet and still as he prowled over it until he finally reached the Hokage tower.

Hinata had remained quiet with the occasional whimpers of pain when he jostled her too much, her breathing labored and raspy against his skin in warm exhales. His stealth easily made the climb faster but physically he was strained from the travel and the lack of chakra. With a deft kick, the window shattered in an array of glass when he jumped through.

The glass fragments had embedded itself into his legs and feet but he continued to walk through the dark office till he reached the ending hall that was adjourned by another door way.

Torches dimly lit the way when Sasuke kicked the door open. The wooden door slammed into the wall, shattering the silence of the room like the sound of a gong inside of a peaceful shrine.

There sitting up upon the bed was his previous sensei, the Hokage of Konohagakure, _Kakashi Hatake._

The older male's dark eyes caught Sasuke's own, disheveled from sleep but quick to sharpen and zoom in on the previous pupil who was unexpectedly standing in his room with a large bundle of dark silk in his bleeding arms.

Kakashi couldn't quite process what it was that he was seeing. Why was his star pupil, who was supposed to be out of town for god knows how long, in his room? Especially in the midst of night beaten, battered, and bleeding like he was with that giant bundle in his arms.

"Sasuke?" The older man was confused when the dark figure bent down, kneeling on his floor with a puddle of blood forming on the once pristine surface in shocking amounts.

" _Get up._ " Sasuke brusquely ordered before slowly lowering the figure wrapped lightly in the silken fabric onto the ground and up against his chest.

The older male quickly removed himself from the comfort of his bed, silk sheets sliding off before a candle was quickly lit. The room was suddenly bathed in blinding light and all the shadows were chased away. Only the three occupants remained.

"Who- -?" Kakashi watched in mild confusion as Sasuke quickly unwrapped the petite figure in his arms, steady fingers careful even as he meticulously worked.

Before long, tresses of black silken hair was brushed tenderly out of the way and a set of dainty feminine hands curled around Sasuke's forearm in a soft shaky hold.

The _care_ and _delicate_ handling of the petite woman didn't go unnoticed by the older man.

Her long sooty lashes fluttered before nearly white opalescent orbs peered up blindly at him, hazy and pained. The bruised feminine face was scrunched in agony, porcelain pale skin blotted with maroon colored blood centered in the abdomen and having dried over several times onto her skin since her shirt was barely covering essentials from view.

" _Hinata?_ " Kakashi breathed out in disbelief before shooting a suspicious glare at his previous pupil and was stopped with a harsh glare back.

"She needs a medic! Call Tsunade here now!" Sasuke stated hastily, his words left no room for arguments as the older male quickly summoned his messenger hawk and sent a quick message to be relayed in the next passing moments.

The minutes ticked by but the wait was agonizing for Sasuke.

"She would be more comfortable on the bed, Sasuke," Kakashi said slowly. The older male moved closer to the couple stationed on his floor in an attempt to help ease the girl off of Sasuke but was forced to immediately still when dark eyes flashed red, shooting daggers with a glare his way.

"She will _not_ be moved," he retorted at the slightly stunned older man. Kakashi was used to Sasuke's hostility and lack of kindness or warmth but the finality in his voice and the pointed look that was sent his way, said that if the older male even attempted to touch the girl, he _will_ be killed. Kakashi didn't want to die just quite yet.

The young male turned his gaze away from Kakashi when he felt Hinata's body trembling almost like in a seizure as she clung to him, fighting death at every inhale and exhale. He had memorized every single beat of her heart, every breath that she breathed throughout the time that they had been together. He _knew_ , somehow, he knew that if he was to shift her around she would not make it.

 _Where the fuck is that old lady?_

Kakashi gave a sigh of defeat before heading into the restroom to clean up and dress himself properly, seeing as there was not much he could do for Hinata. The fact that Sasuke was holding a death grip on her and was shooting daggers from his eyes was not helping anything.

However, the older male could see how exhausted the younger Uchiha was, how heavy the burden on his shoulders crushed him yet he remained upright protecting the delicate Hinata Hyuga.

Kakashi didn't understand what had happened but he could clearly see the bonds and attachment that had formed between the two that had not been there before.

It was almost _unbelievable_ what he was seeing.

Finally, almost 10 minutes later, the blonde haired woman dressed in a sleeping kimono made way in. Her sharp eyes glanced at the couple stationed on the floor, bleeding puddles where a certain Uchiha crouched over a severely wounded woman, strong arms caged around the trembling form almost like protective vices.

An alarm suddenly went off in her head.

The pale face looked familiar until she saw a peek of grey lavender misty orbs.

 _Hyuga!_

Tsunade's eyes widened slightly in disbelief when she noticed that it was the missing Hyuga heiress entangled in the last Uchiha's arms.

 _What the hell is going on?_

"This isn't the time for staring," Sasuke roughly said, snapping the blonde woman out of her musings.

She quickly dropped down by the couple, pushing the silken fabric aside to assess the crudely burnt and swollen skin. Tsunade slightly cringed at the horrific sight.

"What happened?" She questioned rather professionally before her palms glowed with green healing energy over Hinata's abdomen, forcing the chakra around her fingertips and into the young girl's slowly dying body.

"She was stabbed by a sword that was similar to kusanagi," he replied, watching as Hinata's body finally calmed, eyes closed almost as if she was sleeping peacefully but he knew otherwise.

 _Kusanagi?_

Kakashi's eyebrow rose in disbelief, several unanswered questions wanting to breach past his lips. For instance, how did Sasuke come into contact with the missing Hyuga heiress and how far have these intimate bonds progressed?

"4 broken ribs, 2 crushed internal organs, several major head wounds, and a fatal stab wound - -how did she even survive this?" The older woman muttered to herself, counting off all the injuries before meeting Sasuke's unwavering eyes.

Hinata was a lot stronger than what people made her out to be. Sasuke knew that for a fact.

"We have to move her to the hospital," Tsunade stated, the glow of the healing palms disappearing in a flash. There was too much damage for her to treat the Heiress here, she needed more help and a lot more equipment.

"You will _not_ move her. She _will_ be treated here," he bluntly said, his aura whipping wildly around his wounded form, ready to strike if necessary.

"Sasuke that's not- -" Kakashi voiced in concern, noticing the hostility in his former pupils taut body. Hard muscles were tensed, back straight and Sasuke looked ready to attack if they didn't conform to him.

"If you move her, she will _die,_ " he stated bluntly, daring them to question his words and he knew either would _not_ dare to. Hinata's hands slid down his arm to catch his clenched fist, as if she could _feel_ his rising emotions and wanted to reassure him with just a simple touch. He tangled their stained fingers together, watching as their blood mixed together as one.

If anyone with eyes looked at the two, they wouldn't see anything amiss but with her trained abilities, Tsunade could see how their aura _intertwined_ and even, dare she say it, completely _merged_ into one, moving in synchronization with one another.

It was as if the two were so in tuned with each other that their auras had recognized the others and had bonded together like they were breathing the same air, like their heart was beating the same beat.

 _Impossible._

Kakashi cleared his throat and caught her attention again.

"Get Sakura and Shizune for me, I'm going to need all the help I can get," Tsunade finally stated before the older male once again sent out a summoning hawk as requested.

Her hands once again glowed in healing light before she gestured for Sasuke to fully lay Hinata onto her back.

The minutes ticked by before Hinata's heart rate calmed and remained constantly beating as she was healed, wounds stitching back together slowly, albeit surely.

His shoulders relaxed, dropping heavily as he felt more than saw her relief from the pain and agony. With that, he backed away, shards of glass digging further into his feet before he leaped back out of the window and disappeared with Kakashi shouting his name into the night.

The last Uchiha had quickly made way back from where he came into Konoha, past the guard who was still stuck in his genjutsu and out of town.

He had managed to travel at least another twenty miles away, as far away from that town as he could, before his feet collapsed under him.

The tall glades of grass grew almost pass his thighs as he glanced around the empty uninhibited forest, blood staining the ground. He stumbled onto his back, dark charcoal colored eyes flashing before his eyelids quickly closed in relief.

 _She was in safe hands now, that was all that mattered._

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A/N : *wipes sweat* I'm glad that Hinata's going to be saved now... no clue what will happen to Sasuke yet. :) See you guys next chapter! :D


	15. Chapter 15 : Awakening

Chapter 15 : Awakening

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The air was slightly chilly as if someone had forgotten to close the window and Hinata could hear the voice of someone speaking close by but slightly muffled and unclear. It was as if she was drowning and currently seated deeply at the bottom of the sea with her head muddled by water and no way to swim to the top.

 _What happened?_

Her long inky lashes fluttered like the wings of a butterfly, but heavy lids would not open as the pale Hyuga heiress attempted to stir from her coma like sleep, yet unable to.

"She's waking, check her vitals, Sakura," a voice spoke authoritatively, strangely familiar and filling her with an unknown emotion as she tried to curl her fingers but failed. The muscles in her arms and legs felt like mush, everything felt slow and agonizing as the minutes passed.

"It's about time too," Sakura replied, watching as Hinata's eyes fluttered behind her closed lids. Her consciousness had awaken but her body wouldn't, not for at least a couple of minutes.

Hinata could feel soft finger tips flutter across her body before her left eyelid was lifted and slowly released. There were muffled beeping sounds close by that seemed to accelerate the closer Hinata came to waking but she couldn't get her hands to move by themselves.

 _What was happening to her?_

Then, as if she plunged herself right out of a pool of water, she jolted awake. Her eyes were wide open but unseeing, hands curled into a tight fist as the prick of a needle pinched against her skin like a sudden ant bite. Her head whirled, dizzy and unable to collect itself as if she had been overdosed with some kind of drug that induced this long sleep.

"Hinata?" Came Sakura's light voice, calling her name as Hinata turned to the bright aura of the woman standing almost 3 feet away from her.

"H-hai." She whispered hoarsely, throat dry and parched before she felt a hand catch her own trembling ones and a cup of some sort was pressed into it. Hinata didn't have to think twice to know what it was. She quickly brought the cup to her mouth and swallowed the sweet taste of clean water like she had been thirsty for years.

She had missed this _immensely_. It was strange to think that she would miss the taste of water so much but once she had been deprived of something so essential like this for so long, her body had automatically craved it.

"Sakura can you leave us for a minute?" The older woman asked before the pink haired medic quickly left the room without a retort and slid the door closed behind her.

 _Hinata remembered now._

The strong authoritative voice belonged to Tsunade-sama, the person that Sasuke had been striving to deliver her to the last couple of days.

"You've been unconscious for 2 months now. Do you remember what happened, Hinata?" Tsunade's voice rang out, clear and strong like the strength of a tall unwavering mountain.

 _Two months?_ She couldn't stop the gasp from leaving her lips, brows curved in disbelief.

"H-hai," she replied after the long pause to collect her thoughts, fingers twining the hospital gown between her fingers in a habit that she could not stop.

Her lips parted before jaw clicked closed, wanting to ask but unable to form the question. Hesitantly, Hinata purposefully expelled her aura wider but it only bumped against the older woman's own before she quickly pulled back, afraid that Tsunade would notice her sudden search.

"Sasuke- -?" She whispered out hopefully, floundering underneath Tsunade's intense stare that seemed to see right through her thoughts.

 _Sasuke! Where was Sasuke? Was he safe now?_

"He disappeared the night he brought you to town," Tsunade replied, watching the crestfallen look envelope the young woman's face. Shimmering tears immediately welled in opalescent eyes and on the verge of spilling over long dark lashes.

He had _abandoned_ her.

 _He had left her behind._

There was an empty pang in her gut at hearing the news. The disappointment and anguish seemed to make her lungs heave and her pulse quicken.

 _He didn't need her after all._

"Are you feeling any pain at all?" Tsunade watched the younger girl's every reaction with sharp eyes, noting her strange reaction to the knowledge of the missing Uchiha. It was almost as if the news had been a hard slap to the face for the Hyuga heiress.

"N-no," Hinata whispered back.

Not _physically_ anyways.

Hinata was very tempted to break free of the needles and IV to go find him, her only thought seemed to be on him.

A crystalline droplet stained her white hospital gown gray before she swiped at her flushed cheeks with trembling hands.

"What happened?" The older woman asked rather seriously, the sound of her rapidly writing over a clipboard was the only sound other than the constant beeping of the heart monitor.

Hinata's heart skipped a beat. The memories of the days and night spent in captivation flashed before her eyes and caused her breathing to become labored.

 _It was a never ending nightmare of memories._

Her fingers curled into the fabric of the cotton blanket, clutching it with a death grip until her knuckles were white. Hinata's lips pursed into a thin line, face pale white while opalescent eyes seemed empty and purposeless.

The words did not want to leave her mouth but she forced herself to relay the information. All the disgusting details of her capture and her captivity inside of that cell and her wonderful companion came spewing from her mouth. She had omitted more information that she deemed was not necessary, especially the bits of information about these women's interest in carnal pleasures of the flesh along with several mind blowing passionate kisses she received from her cell mate.

"And Sasuke was also...tortured?" Tsunade's question brought Hinata to a halt. The slight widening of lavender eyes and sudden trembling of Hinata's body betrayed her.

"Hai," Hinata whispered through gritted teeth, every detail fluttering through her mind as if it was just yesterday. The anger and disgust still tainted her tongue in bitter after taste.

"Did anything _else_ happen?" The older woman continued, noticing the slight hesitation and fear from the younger girl, almost as if she hiding something. The girl was not a very good liar.

"No, n-nothing else," she lied, fingers trembling as the tears welled again but she forced herself to swallow them down. It was a very great offense to lie to Lady Tsunade but she could - - would not _shame_ Sasuke. He had trusted her and she promised him and herself that everything that had happened, she would willingly take it to the grave with her.

The older woman could clearly see that Hinata was trying to hide something with the way she bowed her head with unease but decided to let it go for now. The hour had moved slowly for Hinata as the former Hokage poked and prodded at the information, repeating certain questions over and over again to verify it's validity. Anything that seemed suspicious or lacked detail was questioned and repeated until Hinata couldn't remember what the question was.

It wasn't that Tsunade believed her to be lying about everything, it was solely because the older woman knew that Hinata was omitting certain information that could be crucial to investigation and she wanted as much detail as she can get.

"Well... it seems that you have grown a certain attachment to Sasuke," Tsunade set down the clipboard, watching her patient fidget under her intense gaze. Tsunade did not think that this small attachment will lead to anything. It was only a temporary pact between two cellmates that made them slightly closer, but with time, everything will fade to _nothing_. Time and distance will make everything _non-existent_.

 _"A-Attachment?"_ Hinata repeated in confusion, dainty brows curving slightly at Tsunade's evasive words.

"Yes, almost like co-dependency due to your captivity with him. It will go away with time, so do not worry. Get some rest, I will be back tomorrow to check on your eyes," she said, standing swiftly and smoothing out her kimono before grabbing the clip board and pen.

"Hai," Hinata whispered wistfully, face falling at the older woman's words.

Tsunade turned from the girl and pulled the door open, glancing back one more time before disappearing down the hall.

 _Two months._

It has been two long and lonely months since her captivity and escape, since she last felt Sasuke's warmth and protective presence. It hurt more than the thought of anything else.

She wanted to be with _him_.

 _Didn't he want the same?_

Her fingers latched onto the cotton blanket, wishing that it had been him that she was clinging to instead. His warm skin, his musky masculine smell, his soothing aura, his warmth and his passionate kisses.

Her cheeks flushed lightly at the last thought.

She missed _everything_ about him.

The tears had already wet her lashes before she could stop the hiccup of a sob leaving her lips. She had thought that with the time that they had spent together, that he wouldn't leave her behind, that he would stay with her. But he had left her behind just like the many people that he left behind when he left Konoha years ago.

 _He had abandoned her._

She should be angry and upset but yet why did she feel so _empty_ without him?

Her wounds had healed over completely now, some barely left fairly light scars upon her flesh since Tsunade had healed most of them. She wasn't physically in pain anymore but there was the emotional pain that had left her feeling oddly bereft and empty.

Tsunade _couldn't_ be right.

She wasn't emotionally attached to him solely because they were companions in the cell, because her mind had somehow connected that Sasuke meant _safe_ , and everything else was _dangerous_.

That could _not_ be it.

Then where, where did this _need_ to stay with him come from?

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Almost two days later, Lady Tsunade had permitted her to leave the hospital and return home since all her wounds had healed properly after two months of being stuck in the coma like state.

She had waited for him to come by to visit her.

Each day her friends and family had visited. Kiba and Shino along with Kurenai sensei had come by first. She was extremely glad that they were all well and alive but couldn't help the feeling of disappointment when it wasn't _him._

Neji, Hanabi, Tenten, Lee and several others had all visited her, had wished her well and brought her several items and gifts.

 _But they were not him._

Everyone always looked at her with pity in their eyes. There was always an awkward silence as they stared at her and pretended to be overly cheerful. It did not make her feel any better. Instead they made her feel inferior, _weak_ , and easily broken, almost like porcelain.

What they saw was the handicapped and broken Hyuga heiress, the beaten and battered Hinata Hyuga. Seeing her like this made them think her _weak._

She will prove them wrong. She was not weak. Not after everything that she had been through.

Even Naruto had visited and treated her the same way.

He was as happy and ecstatic as ever but Hinata had noticed a slight strain between him and Sakura, whom was currently her appointed nurse and his girlfriend at the time.

They were currently engaged and she thought possibly that they were having a couple's fight but later learned from Ino that it wasn't so.

They had broken up because Sakura was still in love with Sasuke and somehow ended up using Naruto to make the last Uchiha jealous. Sasuke hadn't cared at all and left the town to travel and atone for his mistakes.

 _Sakura still loved Sasuke._

Just the thought made Hinata's stomach turn with unease.

Had the pink haired medic kissed his lips the same way _she had_ , laid in his arms and slept against him the way that _she had_?

Had he protected Sakura and cared for the medic the same way he had for her?

Hinata huffed, angry and enraged for some unknown reason. Why was she upset at the knowledge of another woman loving _her_ Sasuke?

It was a startling realization that had her insides pinching tight together.

She was _jealous_. The ugly green eyed monster(not Sakura) made her feel repulsed by her sudden hatred and anger at a certain pink haired woman.

 _Had the two even been in a relationship?_

From what she remembered anyways, Sakura had always pined after him like almost every other girl in Konoha but he had refused all their advances, to Hinata's sudden relief.

Truth be told, she was kind of dejected that she didn't know enough about him. He knew everything about her being that she couldn't help but talk to him about everything and anything during their captivity. He had seldom replied and instead listened to her ramble on and on about her life without interrupting or telling her to shut up.

Everything that she knew about him had been from the rumors that she had heard the citizens gossiping in the streets. None of which were true so they were not at all trustworthy.

Sakura probably knew more about him that anyone else did, she thought bitterly. Hinata quickly stomped that thought down.

 _No._

She couldn't continue living like this! She needed to get her life back together! She can't just be lazing around fantasizing forever.

She had lived without Sasuke for almost all her life and if he wasn't coming back for her then she obviously didn't need to be waiting for him. Right? Right.

With a deep frown, she untangled herself from the sheets and quickly left the vicinity of the Hyuga compound. Hinata stopped as she found herself hesitating with each step.

She was blind. Yes. But her body remembered the road that she had walked through many times in her life.

She quickly rushed to her favorite training ground in the dead of night with solid determination shining on her face.

She couldn't continue to stay weak, she had to make herself stronger. Hinata Hyuga had to build herself up to where no one would _ever_ be able to break her down again.

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A/N: So there was finally a separation between our two love birds. Hopefully this time apart will let them figure out their feelings for each other! :D


	16. Chapter 16 : Her Revelations

Chapter 16 : Her Revelations

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She couldn't sleep again, those dreams- -no, _nightmares_ kept haunting her sleep and each time she slept, the nightmares would surface. The pain was excruciating, every hit and every slap had hurt so bad; even though, it had been just a dream, something her mind had managed to conjure from terrible memories that would not vanish.

Sometimes she dreamed about him, about his wonderful kisses and gentle embrace before the calm and happy moments would be ruined by those horrid women. They dragged Sasuke out by his hair and hurt him in gruesome ways that left her sobbing as she woke.

She never had such horrible dreams when she had slept in Sasuke's arms and it seemed as if even these nightmares were afraid of him. If only he was still here to scare away her nightmares. If only she could still be enveloped in his arms.

A crystalline tear drop darkened her sheets as she hugged her knees tightly to her body, laying her head across her knees as she cried. It seemed that this was all that she had been doing, confining herself inside of her room ever since she had left the hospital, crying worthlessly as if tears did anything to help.

"Hinata?" Hanabi's words seemed to penetrate through the wood of her door and startled her out of her musings before Hinata quickly pulled herself upright and wiped her face, smoothing down her hair in the process.

"Come in," she replied before the younger girl entered, sharp eyes inspecting the dark room to where her older sister sat tangled in the sheets with a slightly broken expression on her face.

Large lavender eyes stared back blankly, face blotchy and lashes wet as if she had been crying for hours now.

 _What had caused this?_

"Father wishes to talk to you," the younger girl said, head cocked to the side as she watched her older sister fidget under her probing gaze. There was something oddly different about her older sister now. Knowledge, some sort of maturity and an emptiness in her gaze that made it unsettling to stare Hinata in the eyes.

"Hai, I'll be right out," she whispered, words barely audible that if Hanabi hadn't been studying her older sister so hard, she wouldn't have heard it.

"Okay." Slowly, the younger girl made way out of the room before sliding the door closed with a slight tap. Hanabi breathed a sigh as she walked down the halls and towards her fathers sitting room where he waited with slow measured steps.

This would be the first time that he had summoned Hinata since she had returned to the house. Father had not even visited Hinata when she was in the hospital in a coma for months, but Hanabi knew that he kept himself from going. He was afraid of what he would do when he saw his first daughter so beaten and broken like Hanabi had. The gruesome sight of what had happened to Hinata seemed to linger around in Hanabi's thoughts, making her wonder what had actually happened to her.

Grey eyes wandered back to the closed door, hearing the sounds of Hinata's scuffling around behind the closed walls before slowly walking away.

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Hinata was quick to change her sleeping robe into a loose kimono before venturing down the halls and straight into Hanabi who settled her frantic body with a steady hand.

She was frazzled and frenetic as the rice paper doors slid open and she felt the burn of his wild aura against her own. His sharp gaze was hot on her face and she realized that she wasn't ready to face him just yet. Just by the trembling of her hands and the sudden nervous sweat that wet her back was proof of it.

 _Hiashi made here uncomfortable._

Will he be angry at her failure to defeat the people who captured her, for letting herself get beaten to a mass of broken limbs and blood, or for even returning to ruin their family name?

Perhaps, he thought that it would be better if she had just died on a mission instead of returning. Had she died, at least she would be honored for her death to Konoha as the nin of the town, yet she couldn't even do that right.

"H-Hello, f-father," she greeted, trying her best to calm the stutters as she was met with his intimidating presence. All her previous habits came to surface. The pathetic stutters, the shaking limbs, and lightheadedness came back in a rush.

"Help your sister sit down, Hanabi," he calmly stated, bringing his tea cup upwards and taking a slight sip as he inspected his daughter for the first time in months.

Alive. Weak. Blind. _Useless._

Hanabi frowned, noticing the faint displeased curl of his lips as he studied her older sister with a look of disdain on his face.

Hinata raised her hand, stopping Hanabi from helping as she pridefully shuffled around until she sat right in front of him, head tipped upwards but not quite staring at his face.

"It has come to my attention that you are currently incapable of proceeding as clan head. Under the councils decision and my final ruling, we have decided to remove you as heiress of the clan. Hanabi will replace you as the clan head." He spoke almost as if they were dealing with a business contract of some sort instead of a loving conversation between father and daughter.

 _No such warmth was found in his voice._

Hinata knew that this day was coming long before she had been kidnapped. She had only been tricking herself into thinking that any of her efforts would be rewarded in the end, but all of that was coming to pass now. She knew this was going to happen but the blow to her pride still stung and ached like an open wound that would not heal.

"Hai," she replied respectfully, head bowed downwards in defeat as she swallowed down a pathetic cry. What else was there that she could do to make him change his mind? Should she grovel and beg pathetically, cry and sob for him to accept her? She doubted that it would work.

"With your handicap as is, it is best if we find you a guard, someone adequately equipped to protect you from further- _-incursions_."

Hinata was a weak daughter that had let herself be kidnapped so easily compared to his younger daughter who had managed to defeat and kill all those who stood in her way. The family secrets could have easily been taken and used against the clan because of her.

Hinata swallowed weakly, fingers clenched into the fine fabric of her dark kimono, the color of dark blue silk with a deep red obi across the waist.

Hiashi had been slightly confused with her color choice until he momentarily remembered that she couldn't see anything none the less color, yet the contrasting hues were a constant reminder of something long forgotten, something that should remain buried beneath years of dirt and debris.

 _Uchiha._

He once again took a slight sip of his tea, eyeing the colors in distaste before watching her shoulders tense for the final blow his words would cause.

 _It had to be done._

" _Rennosuke_ has gladly asked for your hand and is kind enough to look past your deformities, I have decided that it is best for you to marry him." He stated the words forcefully, leaving no room for debate.

 _His words were always final._

Hinata's head shrunk downwards towards her neck, tempted to grind her teeth together. He wanted to marry her off to that perverted distant relative that she had tried to stay away from since childhood. Even his name left a slight chill in the air.

" _No_." She found the words had already left her lips before she could stop them.

"It is for your own safety, Hinata. I am your father. I only want what is best for you." His sharp glare could have made all the blood drain from her face had she been able to see it, but even without her vision, she could feel his eyes burn through her face like a slap to the face.

She didn't want to marry Rennosuke!

 _She wanted Sasuke._

How could she tell her father that?

Her cheeks flushed in frustration. She couldn't argue and fight with her father head on, instead she must deploy another strategy while playing the _submissive_ daughter.

"I wish to challenge him," she stated, her words full of finality and conviction, "If he defeats me and is able to prove that he is capable of protecting me then I will accept the marriage, father."

 _There was no way she would be able to defeat him, not when she had her vision and definitely not now when she was handicapped,_ Hiashi mused before deciding to just appease her for now.

 _She would have to succumb to his demands soon enough._

"So be it."

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For the next month, Hinata had immersed herself into training. At first her family and friends had tried to stop her, afraid she would do more harm than good but eventually they had faltered slightly when they saw the veil of determination etched upon her pale face.

They made her feel _pathetic_ and pitiful, weak and useless like a piece of breakable glass. That was the shove that she needed in order to push herself back up. She wasn't a damsel in distress who needed a knight in shining armor to save her. She wasn't weak and she was going to prove it to all of them.

Sasuke wouldn't have stopped her.

He would have silently watched her progress and just with his presence at her side, she knew that he would give her his approval of her actions, of her pushing herself to become stronger.

Other than training, Hinata spent most of her time at the hospital for hours on end as Tsunade and Sakura tried to undo the damage that she had caused. She could feel her eyes gradually getting better but not fast enough to be progressing at a rapid rate for a full recovery so that she could battle Rennosuke.

Hinata was glad that the chances of her vision returning was a lot higher than she had hoped for and she was extremely grateful for all of their help.

She wanted her vision to return again so she could see her friends and family along with beat that perverted look off of Rennosuke's face, yet the traitorous part of her knew that what she yearned for the most was to see _his_ face.

 _She missed him._

That was something that she couldn't deny.

 _Did he miss her too?_ Probably not.

She was probably just a burden for him, someone he was forced to take care of because of their circumstances.

When training, she forced her body beyond its limit to tire herself out to the point where she couldn't think about him anymore, where his deep husky voice didn't come to mind, where his gentle touch didn't cause her to shiver in pleasure, or where her body didn't miss his warmth at night. Sometimes, falling asleep was hard without him.

"Hinata-chan!"

Hinata had almost dropped the bento in her lap when she jumped slightly at the loud scream of her name. The calm and peaceful atmosphere was completely destroyed by the shrill shout that caused the birds to flee in fear.

The tall blonde male had quickly jogged his way over to her and was panting rather loudly with a grin on his lips as his bright blue eyes remained glued on her petite frame.

"Hello, Naruto-kun," she replied. Her head was tipped to the side in wonder, bangs sliding downwards to reveal smooth pale temples and wide pretty eyes, while her lips pursed cutely with delicate brows slightly wrinkled.

 _What was he doing here?_

"Naruto," Shino greeted, a slight frown weaving on his lips as he helped his blind team mate up to her feet.

"Er- -Can I talk to Hinata-chan alone for a little bit, Shino?" The blonde stated, completely oblivious to the apprehensive stare that the bug user was sending him.

Hinata could feel the slight strain between the two males and she knew Shino was worried for her. And she was glad to have such caring friends.

"It's fine, Shino-kun," Hinata reassured, tapered fingers closing the bento in practiced movements before setting it down onto the bench and turning back to the blonde's wildly waving aura.

Even without her sight he was still really bright. Hinata almost winced when his aura touched her own.

Sometimes such brightness, alike to the sun, could be _corrosive_ and _nauseating_.

Hinata found that she now _preferred_ the _darkness_ over all.

Shino clicked his tongue in annoyance before nodding his head and backing away from the two. Hopefully, Naruto wouldn't do any more damage to his delicate team mate since he was such an oblivious person. The jinchuriki was a rather unpredictable individual so there was no saying what the outcome would be. Shino did not want Hinata to be hurt more than she was already damaged.

"Uh- -I don't really know how to say this but I've uh- - thought about it for a long time, Hinata-chan," he started, scratching his neck lightly in an unsure gesture as he watched her expression jump from confusion to surprise, "I'm really sorry for brushing off your feelings for such a long time."

Hinata is at a loss of what to do. She hadn't really expected him to come find her for this reason.

Especially not after everything that has happened.

"I-It's fine, Naruto-kun," she replied hesitantly, not really believing that Naruto was apologizing for taking her feelings lightly all those years.

"No. No it's _not_. I'm sorry for everything, Hinata-chan. I should have known better than to do that," he stated almost wistfully as she floundered uncomfortably almost in disbelief.

"I forgave you a long time ago, Naruto-kun. Please don't be bothered by it," she said with a slight strained smile on her lips. He was no longer what made her world spin on it's axis, the position had been replaced by someone else now and she liked it that way. Naruto was just another comrade and that was how it was going to stay.

Blue eyes watched her slight movement, head tilted cutely as she glanced at him through thick dark lashes. Had Hinata-chan always been this _pretty_? His eyes widened slightly.

Hinata-chan had the traditional kind of beauty. Simple and elegant yet beautiful in her own unique way. Porcelain skin and rose petal colored lips that glistened as she spoke while wide lavender eyes were framed with thick dark lashes that made her seem even more ethereal to look at.

Sakura had the wild, untamed beauty with exotic hair and vivid eye color that no one else had.

He frowns.

No, this was about Hinata-chan. He couldn't continue to be hung up on Sakura like this.

"I-I want to give us a chance, Hinata. You don't have to answer me now but don't leave me hanging too long." He laughed jokingly, almost awkwardly for the both of them; although, his words had a rather serious note to it.

She was floored, her expression showed bewilderment and shock. What had brought this up?

Had Naruto told this to her half a year ago she would have willingly jumped into his arms and let him whisk her off into his own fairytale, but the her right now was not that _naive_ and _innocent_ girl she used to be.

Instead, she felt slightly _bitter_ at his words. He had left her ' _hanging_ ' for years for an answer from him and yet he expects her not to do the same. _How hypocritical._ But Hinata wasn't the type of person who would go and step all over someone else's heart, no matter what they had done to hers.

Her expression softened slightly and she could feel the tension from him as he waited for her answer. She didn't know that someone so confident like him could be nervous over something like this.

"Gomen. I have someone I like now," she finally replies with a certain conviction in her voice that had even surprised herself. How was she so sure of herself?

"Er- -okay, I wish you the best of luck, Hinata-chan. Thanks for talking to me," he said brightly with a strained smile on his lips, scratching the back of his neck as she smiled at him kindly. Had she been able to see, Hinata would have been able to catch the slightly relieved yet disappointed expression on his normally bright and smiling face.

Had she lied to him?

 _No._

She hadn't because there had never been a doubt that the only one who was in her heart right now was _Sasuke Uchiha._ She wanted him, her heart and soul yearned for him in more ways than it ever could have for Naruto. She undoubtedly knew that she liked him- - -no it was way past that now.

Every hardship they had endured, every stumble and fall, every moment of intimacy had been _ingrained_ into her head like a memory that could never be forgotten or erased.

" _I love him_." Her lips parted in a small whisper, almost in awe as she contemplated her words, running them through her head a hundred times as if to make sure they were true. Her ears burned in embarrassment and astonishment at such a declaration.

 **Hinata Hyuga** was in _love_ with **Sasuke Uchiha**.

"Huh?" Naruto's brows wrinkled slightly. Did Hinata chan just say she loved something? He wasn't too sure but he could feel his chest pinch tightly at the thought.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," she smiled brilliantly, fingers clenched into a fist, heart beating rapidly against her chest and Naruto found her smile absolutely blinding, bright and beautiful in an ethereal way.

"I'll see you around then, Hinata-chan! If you need any help with your training, feel free to come find me!" He hollered before running off again before she could say another word.

Hinata released a breath that she didn't know that she was holding when the blonde finally disappeared from her senses.

It was definitely true what Ino-chan had warned her of when it came to Sakura and Naruto. Ino-chan said that if she wasn't careful, she would be used by Naruto as a rebound girlfriend and Hinata had no interest in that whatsoever.

When had her life become so complicated?

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A/N : So... there's definitely more drama coming up! How do you guys think Hinata will do in this fight between her and Rennosuke?


	17. Chapter 17 : His Revelations

Chapter 17 : His Revelations

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 _Kuso._

Sasuke grunted lightly before dragging himself upright, thrusting the sheets off of his body as he glanced around into the darkness, his eyes flashed red before he caught the shadow of a woman enter the room. His entire body hardened, muscles immediately tensing as he took the defensive. No woman can be _trusted_ , no one except for Hinata.

"Whoa there, just rest for a bit," the woman muttered, voice vaguely familiar as she lit the candle to drown the room in light as he winced and momentarily closed his eyes.

"Damn, Sasuke, what happened?" the red haired woman asked, setting down a cup of water on the table to his left as she readjusted her glasses and frowned down at him with concern shining in her eyes.

It had been almost three days now since Suigetsu had found him toppled over the entrance of their hideout. He had been unconscious and severely wounded. How he had even managed to find the hide out itself was a rather remarkable feat especially since they had reinforced the barriers several times.

After dragging his body inside, Karin had immediately examined him to find the large amounts of wounds littering his flesh, some were seriously infected and there were others that were rotting away. He had chunks of flesh missing from his thighs and back that had swelled like no other and seemed to have been caused by some sort of animal that had bitten him.

 _Someone had hurt him to this degree, several someone's that left bite marks all over his body._

Karin shivered unconsciously in awareness.

It had taken them several hours to get him to bite into her arm to which activated her healing powers, but with the severity of his wounds, the healing itself had taken a lot longer than she had expected and her chakra had drained down next to nothing.

He had healed completely but that blank look on his stony face made her think otherwise.

Sasuke slowly picked up the cup and brought it to his dry lips, taking a long chug before emptying the cup of its content. Karin had quickly poured him another cup to which he had immediately drank before his eyes had caught onto the fairly white scar on his forearm where indents of teeth mark had caused the slight mar.

"Get me a kunai," he finally said, inspecting his flesh for the marks that were fairly hard to see on his pale complexion, but to him, they were a constant reminder of the sins made against him.

Karin tipped her head downwards before procuring a kunai from her pouch and swiftly handed it to the fairly stony Uchiha.

 _He was starting to scare her._

His hands had clutched said kunai with a tight hold, his knuckles white from the pressure before he dug it into the flesh of his healed forearm, ripping the skin open and slicing around the scar.

"What are you doing? Stop!" Karin literally screamed into his face as his blood started to stain the sheets red in rivulets. The kunai easily sliced through the healed flesh until the bite wound on his inner thigh was chunked out and off of his body and still he was not satisfied.

 _He could still feel them on his skin!_

His hands didn't even tremble as he continued to assault his own flesh, removing all the bite marks and branded words they had burned into his flesh.

Sweat beaded across his brow as he continued to remove their marks from his body, slow pants for air breaching the silence of the room as his previous team mate watched him with her mouth agape in horror and shock.

 _He must have gone crazy!_

"Suigetsu! Suigetsu! Come and hold him down!" Karin shouted as the bulky man quickly stomped in, eyes wide in confusion as he watched his team leader cut himself open all over.

The glare that Sasuke sent them had stopped both in their tracks, watching in bewilderment as he continued to hurt himself over and over again.

Unable to reach his back he held the kunai out towards the red haired woman, forcing her to help him with a sharp glare from his reddened eyes that spurred her into action.

She was slightly sickened as she quickly tried to cut out the marks on his back and not once had he voiced any discomfort yet she knew it to be agonizing. After almost 20 minutes they had finally finished the grueling work before she held out her arm for him to bite into once again.

Her chakra level spiked before dropping dramatically as the minutes passed and his wounds gradually started to heal shut in a matter of time.

Once done, Sasuke tossed her arm away from him, swallowing down the bile that arose deep in his throat at the memories that surfaced before his eyes, almost like a movie being replayed over and over again.

"Sasuke," Karin whispered, fingers reaching out to touch him, to comfort him when he turned away from her hands and glared at her with dark colored eyes.

"Don't." His voice rasped, a deep baritone that reverberated in the room. He couldn't stand the thought of any woman touching him now, it disgusted him and the bile continued to form in his throat at just the thought of them close to him.

Karin seemed taken a back, eyes wide at the disgusted and repugnant look that he was giving her. He acted as if she was poisonous, vile, foul, or something extremely toxic to the touch!

"Get out," he finally voiced with an icy cold countenance as his chest heaved from restraint. There was a slight pause but the two of them did not want to go against his orders. Karin and Suigetsu quickly backed away and slid the door closed, eyeing him in concern before leaving him to sort through his thoughts.

The room was soon encased in peaceful silence.

Sasuke's hands trembled in the aftermath, his shoulders dropping as he traced the new barely see able scar that he had caused. His skin had smoothed over, knitted shut and closed but somehow he could still feel the sting of pain and the hurt of humiliation in his body.

 _Tsk._

 _Yet somehow those thoughts were easily dispelled with an image of lavender and alabaster._

He had remembered traveling for almost 5 days away from Konoha, searching for a healer but many had recognized him and had refused service even when he had threatened to hurt them. They had called him a monster, a beast without a heart and would rather die than help him after everything that he had done over the years.

Instead of resting, he had traveled on until he reached the Sound and found Orochimaru's hide out in search of Karin before his body shut down on him.

The only people he knew that would be willing to heal him had been in Konoha and he would rather bleed to death than stay another minute in that wretched town.

He had not wanted to leave Hinata there but there was nothing he could do otherwise. Even when he had set her down, her hands still held a death grip on his sleeve and it had taken everything he had to _walk away_. His chest still _stung_ from the memory.

Sasuke knew that she couldn't possibly understand his extreme hatred for the town. The memories wrought more disgust and self loathing than ever when he remembered what had happened to his family.

He had failed his family and his honor. It was an indefinite stain on his soul that could never be removed.

As the time progressed, the thought of Konoha didn't bring him indefinite hatred like it once had. Time had managed to dispel it. The need to destroy the town and it's inhabitants had also gradually died down because it currently housed something that belonged to him. He didn't care for the town or the many people there other than one person.

 _Hinata._

Eventually, he would have to return to Konoha, to rebuild his clan and restart that which was once forgotten. He couldn't let his family name remain buried beneath all of that blood and dirt, he _refused_ to let that happen.

But for now he would remain here, following his own vendetta until the need to go back was too strong, until the need to see _her_ was too strong.

 _She was better off in Konoha anyways, away from him, away from the hurt and the pain._

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"Sasuke, we got a lead," Suigetsu announced, dragging a struggling Karin behind him as they approached their quiet inscrutable leader. He was always quiet before but there was something oddly unsettling about him now. His odd dislike towards women that he had before could not exceed the current dislike, the current extreme hatred like they are his worst enemy. Even Karin could not step too close to him without his hackles rising to the point of maniacally attacking. It was crucial to say that something had definitely changed about him and they didn't know if it was good or bad.

 _How was he going to rebuild his clan if he disliked women so much? Was the Uchiha clan going to disappear after Sasuke?  
_

That would be too disappointing.

"They said the bastard was sighted entering Shukuba," Karin continued, warily watching him as goosebumps prickled on her flesh at the empty look in Sasuke's eyes. She stood nearly 3 yards away from him, leaving a giant gap between them because she knew better now than get too close.

"Let's go," he grunted out before jumping off of the branch that he was perched on to land right next to them.

He wouldn't be Sasuke Uchiha if he didn't kill the bastard who had hurt something that was his. Revenge had always been his _specialty_ after all.

Karin and Suigetsu followed behind him as they quickly started towards the town.

The group didn't have to travel very far before they spotted the man leaving a brothel with his arms around two oirans of the pleasure district, a greasy grin imprinted on his face. Sasuke leapt down from the rooftop like the death god descending to the earth, his dark cape creating a shadow around him.

Almost immediately the man had recognized him, eyes slightly wide in panic before quickly being replaced by fake bravado. The sweat that dripped down his face said the complete opposite of what the man was trying to seem.

"Uchiha bastard! You saved me the trouble of hunting you down!" The man laughed, shoving the two women aside before drawing the sword that was almost a twin to Sasuke's own kusanagi. The people had already known to back away after catching sight of the monster known as Sasuke Uchiha. They didn't dare come close knowing that he could kill all of them off before they could even scream.

"Just to let you know, Uchiha, my kusanagi has gotten some new upgrades," the man said cockily with a tilt of his head and a vicious smirk on his face.

Karin scoffed.

She didn't know if this man was stupidly brave or far too dense to realize what it meant to fight head on with an Uchiha who was at full power. He probably wouldn't even last 5 minutes, especially since that rather murderous aura had wrapped around Sasuke like a second skin.

This guy was dead meat.

True to her words, not even two seconds after the mans declaration did Sasuke dart forward, quicker than the strike of lightning and their swords clashed. Fire slammed against lightning as the two dueled in an array of light that blinded anyone that was still nearby.

The kusanagi was strong.

 _Yes._

But the wielder had to be stronger.

With brute force, Sasuke forced the man to step backwards before pulling back and with a fast swing, the fake kusanagi was cut right in half. The man's right arm was sliced to strips with the strength of his channeled chidori. Skin melted off of flesh and fell in ribbons until bone was all that was left. The man fell backwards, screaming in agony before Sasuke's sharingan flashed bright red, trapping him in a far too advanced genjutsu for him to ever be released from.

In that realm, Sasuke made sure to leave him mentally incapacitated, stabbing him over and over again in a multitude of ways like how the man had stabbed Hinata, only one hundred times worse than that.

He would be dead before the next hour passed.

And none dared to approach to help the man, all trembling at the pile of skin, bones and blood that laid on the dirt ground in front of them.

Just like that, Sasuke leapt backwards and high up into the air until his feet landed upon the brothels rooftop, his team following quickly behind his footsteps.

 _There would be no mercy._

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The months had gradually passed by for him, slowly drawling until the days blended together and the scenery blurred to nothing except for glassy lavender, alabaster skin, and beautiful petal pink lips.

 _He was going crazy._

Somehow his brain would not stop procuring pictures of her in his head, of her bright smile, her pretty face and her shining lavender eyes.

 _When had she started to invade all of his thoughts?_

There was this infinite need to see her that built up in him like an overfilling river threatening to consume him. A strange need to know that she was safe and protected when indeed he knew that the only one capable of adequately keeping her safe and protected would be _him._

 _Only him._

Her so called team mates were far too weak to keep her safe. They had let her get taken by those vile women and tossed into the same cell as him for the duration of almost 3 weeks, yet not one soul had come to save her.

Was she not the important heiress of the Hyuga clan?

His hands clenched lightly, remembering the stories she had told him about her cold-hearted father, smiling even though she looked ready to cry with how her own father had treated her, his own flesh and blood.

It vaguely reminded him of himself, of how he had always tried to please his own father but to no avail.

Her father would only break her down until there was nothing left of her. He couldn't let them do that to her because he knew what it felt like to be compared to another and finding yourself never measuring up to them.

 _He was never good enough because Itachi was always better._

Sasuke had worked hard, even at a young age, to gain his father's approval; even though, that was impossible. He had always known that he would never be able to escape his brother's shadow, it was impossible without killing the older sibling and eventually, he did.

Out of all of the people in his life that looked down at him, feared him, hated him, Hinata was the only one to truly understand him without words.

Hinata had never belittled him, she never made him feel degraded or inferior even when she had witnessed his fall from grace. She never looked at him with anything other than adoration and respect even when she had witnessed all of his moments of shame and humiliation.

 _What were these feelings that she had caused to arise in him?_

With a prolonged sigh, he slouched backwards while strong tapered fingers combed through his wild hair as he relaxed into the bedding.

He wanted an answer to those questions yet none had come to him no matter the time that passed.

The only way to find out would to be to _return_ to her.

Sasuke had never been one to deny himself of anything. What he wanted he took and it didn't matter who or what stood in his way.

Just like that, his decision had been made.

He was going to return to Konoha, the home town that he had left behind for so long just for one Hinata Hyuga.

He was _Sasuke Uchiha_ , if he wanted something then by the gods he would have it. Once he had his eyes set on a goal, he always succeeded to reach it no matter the consequences.

If he wanted a certain lavender eyed Hyuga then she _would_ be his. Not even Hinata herself would be able to keep him away.

After all, she _belonged_ to him now. Her promise to remain by his side would be her bond to him until he released her from it, which would be improbable because once she was _his_ , he would _never_ let her go.

 _Because there would be no other._

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A/N : I'm terrible with fight scenes! Sorry guys! :) As for Sasuke, I don't think he quite understands what those feelings are yet and it might take him a little bit of time to find out what she really means to him. :D

Also, who's excited that Sasuke's coming for his girl now, let's hope there won't be too much drama! :D


	18. Chapter 18 : Fighting Blind

Chapter 18 : Fighting Blind

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For Hinata, the days and months drifted by until it finally came to the battle day with Rennosuke.

Although she felt much stronger, her vision had _not_ returned.

Hinata was still as blind as before; even though, she knew that her vision was healing a lot faster than she had thought.

 _It wasn't enough. It never was enough._

She had trained day and night in hopes of reforming her chakra control but every step forward felt like she was taking a step back. Her chakra fought with her every step that she took and sometimes it barely followed her strict control until she was left at wits end. It tended to snap back at her in retaliation the further she pushed and this caused Hinata to worry even more.

 _Hinata was terribly worried about this fight._

She was confident that she could do a lot of damage to Rennosuke but there was always a voice in the back of her head telling her that she was not good enough.

 _Her father's voice._

It continuously rang in her ears, telling her of her failure and defeat, her inability to succeed because she will never be up to par. There were nights where she broke down crying until her voice was hoarse and her body trembling from exhaustion and turmoil.

Her only silver lining was _Sasuke_. Just the thought of him kept her going, kept her father's harsh and critical comments from breaching the fore front of her consciousness and destroying her control.

She fought with her inner monsters every step of the way and sometimes she felt like she wasn't good enough but that didn't stop her from forcing herself forwards.

Hinata propelled herself upwards with every push _down_ that her father made.

When she fell down, she stood back up. When Neji Nii-san slammed her to the dirt ground during rigorous training, she picked her battered body up and fought back with all that she had. Hinata fought and forced herself back up until her body trembled, her vision darkened, and her consciousness left her.

 _Even when asleep she was fighting._

She never gave up because what she was fighting for was for herself, was for Sasuke. Sasuke had somehow become her strength _and_ her weakness.

She was scared because she didn't want to make Sasuke disappointed in her, but most of all, she didn't want to let herself down. Hinata _couldn't_ let herself down, she was all that she had now. No one can save her other than herself. Sasuke wasn't going to come back and save her, she already knew that but her chest still ached at the thought of him.

"Are you ready to become mine, Hinata-sama?" Rennosuke whispered against her ears, obsidian hair seemingly longer than her own when he brushed past her. He left a trail of his disgusting presence behind as he walked and she was tempted to throw up.

Hinata immediately tensed when she felt his palm purposefully brush past her rear, squeezing her flesh before quickly retreating back to his side. Had she been able to see, she would be gifted with the vision of his perverted face and she was glad that she couldn't see him.

 _The bastard didn't deserve her attention._

Hinata felt heat rapidly make way up her chest. Anger, hot and fast caused her cheeks to heat up in a fierce blush that threatened to consume her. It was obvious that he was trying to mess with her emotions. Even Saints would be angered by Rennosuke and Hinata was no Saint.

Hinata stomped down the urge to slap him as she quickly got into her stance, waiting for Hiashi's call for the battle to start.

She couldn't wait to gentle fist that arrogant smirk, that she knew he had on, off of his perverted face.

"You may begin." Hiashi's calm and stoic voice broke through and Hinata had a feeling that her own father was waiting for her to fail. Hiashi was definitely waiting for her to make a fool of herself just like she had in the past, but not this time. She was not going to let him continue to break her down until there was nothing left of her except for tears and hurt.

Delicate hands clenched when Rennosuke raced towards her prone form, chakra enhanced fists raised to knock her back.

She barely managed to dodge in time because he was a lot faster than she had thought. During the time that she was set out to improve herself, he was probably doing the same thing. His aura wildly lapped at her own when her gentle fist met his and her skin crawled when their hands touched. She hated the feeling of anyone touching her now other than Sasuke.

With a hard knock of her fist, she managed to send him sailing backwards, but Rennosuke had quickly bounced forwards again like her punch had done no damage. The time crawled by when Hinata's punches were easily deflected by him. Hinata faked to the left, sweeping her leg out and waited for him to dodge before sneakily sending a powered kick into his face that resounded with a sickening crunch.

She can imagine how swollen and broken his face is right now. And a dark smirk that could usually be seen on Sasuke's face was currently plastered onto her own.

The smile almost split her face because just the thought of Sasuke had made her stronger, had made her more confident in herself and her abilities.

Hinata forced chakra to her legs, forcing herself to become faster to avoid his kick and avid punches. She barely dodged his gentle fist before slamming her knee into his gut and Hinata could feel his blood stain her pants when it rained down from his chin.

Just when she thought that this would be an easy win, her chakra suddenly started fluctuating wildly, dancing about as she tried to control it.

Swiftly when she dodged back, her chakra completely _extinguished_ like a dying flame.

 _No._

The panic had quickly started to set in and the disbelief was stained onto her features like a second skin. She failed to block his next hit.

Rennosuke noticed her sudden hesitation and sent a gentle fist straight to her heart, attacking an old wound he knew she had.

Blood immediately dripped down her lips in spurts like ruptured glass. It stained the front of her grey shirt, when the bastard hit the same place again and again until she wheezed from the pain.

Every kick and punch she sent to distract him did not connect like she had hoped without her chakra. Their fighting style was far too similar to find a small loop hole for her to break through and Hinata started to panic all the more.

The arrogant smirk on Rennosuke's lips deepened when he swept her legs out beneath her, sending Hinata plummeting to the ground rapidly. She immediately rolled herself around before he could slam his chakra infused leg down on her.

Just as she got up to her feet, he sent a hard kick her way.

His leg connected with her stomach and she was sent flying back several yards before finding her bearing. Her breath came out in quick and short pants, sweat dripping down her temple to wet the front of her shirt. He continued playing with her, kicking and punching her back several times until her face was a bloody mess.

She was out of chakra and her body was starting to fail her.

Hinata swallowed down the mouthful of blood in her throat before picking herself back up. Her body was beginning to slow to a sluggish pace, breath coming out in harsh pants as blood dripped through the cracks of her teeth and down her chin.

Another kick from him sent her plummeting to the ground and she could feel her ribs collapse painfully. Rennosuke smirked down at her, light eyes gleaming viciously like some sort of crazed animal. Soon, his glowing hands lifted her up by the throat until her legs dangled inches away from the ground, choking her as punishment for daring to injure his handsome face.

"Admit defeat, Hinata-sama. The faster you admit defeat, the faster we can get married, and the faster we can consummate," he said, blowing his hot breath into her face.

Hinata clawed at his hands weakly. Panic filled her at his words when she forcefully gathered her wild chakra into her palms, almost like grabbing a hissing and clawing kitten by the tail.

It seemed like an out of body experience when the loud sound of crackling and booming of an explosion sent her flying back.

Her consciousness completely left her.

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When Hinata came to, she was back inside of her dimly lit room. Her whole body ached while tears threatened to fall from her eyes when she remembered the fight.

 _Had she been defeated by Rennosuke? Had she managed to fail at the one chance that she was given?_

The wooden door slid open slowly and Hanabi stiffly entered with a tray of porridge and a cup of water. Cold grey eyes assessed her older sister, noting how calm she was.

"D-did Rennosuke win?" Hinata calmly asked, just to confirm; although, the bitter taste of disappointment made her nauseous to the point of throwing up.

Hanabi remained quiet, as if contemplating the words she wanted to say to lessen the impact on Hinata. How can you beat someone down when they were already seated at the lowest level on the ground?

"It was a draw." Hanabi finally replied with a soft sigh when she set the tray down by Hinata's bed. The cup and bowl clanked together noisily before stilling, leaving the room oddly silent with only the sound of steady even breathing.

The candle light flickered eerily.

"Your chakra fluctuated out of control and caused an explosion that knocked Rennosuke and you unconscious."

Silence once again enveloped the room and the only sound to be heard was Hinata's choppy and choked breathing.

 _She hadn't lost but she didn't win either._

"Then the marriag-" Hope bloomed like spring flowers in Hinata's chest when she realized the implications. If neither won, there had to be some sort of loophole where they could cancel this arrangement. Hinata surely hoped so.

"Father has decided to postpone it for now, until Rennosuke can prove his worth." Hanabi's final words seemed to have dropped Hinata's heart down to the depths of hell.

 _Postponed._

 _Not cancelled._

Trembling fists clenched the creamy sheets until they bunched and wrinkled under her hands.

 _She was still not good enough._

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Hinata had started counting down the days now. Everyday that passed without Sasuke was seamlessly longer than she could take.

11 months, 9 days, 12 hours, and 48 seconds. 49 seconds. 50 seconds. 51 seconds.

She had gotten back into her regular routine. Eating, sleeping, training, and _emptiness_.

Her vision had fully returned now; although, using the Byakugan was not recommended and tended to strain her eyes to the point of bleeding. She had been slightly less disappointed that the first person that she saw had been Tsunade instead of Sasuke, because she knew he might not come back for her.

They were only companions in that cell. He probably didn't feel the same way that she did, no matter how hard she had hoped that he would. She had tried to persevere and tried not to think of him so much but sometimes the brain couldn't control what the heart felt.

Hinata was still off of missions like usual. Her father was still disappointed in her progress and every dreary day passed without stopping. Her world still continued to move even _without_ him, unlike what she had thought. She hadn't _died_ because he was gone, her heart hadn't broken anymore than it already had and her life _moved on_.

But she missed him. Terribly so, to the point that she could feel her heart bleeding with the need to see him. As if he was her only floating anchor to reality.

Her nightmares had haunted her to the point of insomnia and she was starting to forget what his warmth felt like. Could she have possibly imagined everything? Had she been trapped inside of a genjutsu the whole time?

 _No. Impossible._

She knew it was real.

Although the time continued to drawl by, her feelings for him had not changed. Her heart still ached from his abandonment, yet she couldn't get herself to hate him.

 _Where was he? Why wasn't he coming back for her? Is he safe now?_

All these questions always bombarded her mind when she stopped long enough to let them creep across her conscious thoughts. Hinata had followed Tsunade's instructions and moved on with her life but Sasuke seemed to always be apart of it, even if he was not truly there.

He was not a passing infatuation, or a fleeting attachment that would fade with time. Sasuke Uchiha had managed to embed himself into her heart. It was like his kusanagi had carved his name deep onto the canvas of her heart and she didn't want it to heal back up, even if it did, it would be his name on there anyways.

How it had happened was a mystery to her. The feelings she carried for him surpassed anything that she has _ever_ felt for Naruto. Her continued worshiping of Naruto had been for years, yet those feelings were nothing compared to her love for Sasuke in the weeks that they were together. She wanted to think that the feelings were mutual but were they?

Did Sasuke feel the same for her? If he did, why hasn't he come for her?

The question had revolved in her head for months now.

Instead of waiting for him to come for her, Hinata could go and find him.

Perhaps leaving Konoha would be a good step for her. If Hinata left, would it be considered running away from her problems? If she stayed, who knew what her father would come up with to get rid of her. How long would it take for Rennosuke to _prove_ himself to her father? 2 weeks? 2 months? 3 days?

She didn't know and she didn't want to risk it. After all, how many Rennosuke's would her father send her way before she couldn't take it anymore?

Father had always been a very calculating man. Everything he did was always carefully thought out and no one has ever questioned his decisions. Her father's words were final and he obviously did not take 'no' for an answer. She had tried and failed several times.

Hinata sighed.

Where ever Sasuke is right now, Hinata truthfully hoped that he is safe.

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A/N : Sorry for the 13 year wait guys (I'm exaggerating). I'm been busy with other stuff like my comics, other books, life and full time jobs. I recently removed some of the SasuHina fics on here but they will gradually get re-uploaded when I finish my editing. The main reason why I removed them was because I was discouraged by my own writing and nasty private messages that was harshly criticizing my work. If you guys don't already know, I'm my worst critic so I don't need any more mean ones. I've gone through and revamped some chapters but I constantly edit so don't be surprised if there's something new.

Every one of those comments you guys posted really spurred me on to continue writing so thank you for the encouragement and love (even the ones that say "F*ck you author for not updating!")! It means a lot to me!

I already have 3 chapters done and once I am done editing, they will see the light of day.

Don't be discouraged by my slow updates. Sometimes writers block is really hard to get passed. I am no quitter. I will finish this story even if it kills somebody(not me) in the process(you guys know how good I am with that).

Once again thank you and see you guys in a couple of days (If you get what I mean :D)!


	19. Chapter 19 : Lightning And Fire

Chapter 19 : Lightning And Fire

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The dimly lit room of the Hokage tower currently had two seated occupants, neither wanting to be the first to break the ice on the subject that seemed to be an extremely pressing matter. One was leaning back into a chair while the other was busy pouring out cup after cup of sake and drinking it down in vigorously slow gulps.

The sound of cups clanking together and sake being poured was the only noise that could be heard inside of the room.

Both of their minds were currently on the same subject.

 _Uchiha Sasuke and Hinata Hyuga._

"What are you going to do about Sasuke and Hinata?" Tsunade chugged down the 13th(20th) cup of sake before turning to the current Hokage whose head was currently downturned, finger slightly tapping against the table's surface.

Kakashi did not think that there would be a day where they would say these two names together in a sentence. From his knowledge on the two rather quiet Hyuga Hinata and Uchiha Sasuke, they barely interacted with each other until this whole captivity. He wasn't sure if either one of them has ever greeted or even acknowledged one another and yet here the big problem lies before him.

 _Who knew?_

"There's nothing much that we _can_ do. Let the kids take care of their own problems," he said, reaching out for a cup of sake and clanking it with hers. The whole town can't possibly be endangered by their strange relationship, right? _Right._

"Hinata was covering up for him during interrogation and it seems she has a rather strange _attachment_ to him," Tsunade said. Her observations were always more in depth than others since nothing could really pass her notice and the way Hinata acted was rather mind baffling for her.

"I know you saw what I had, Tsunade. It doesn't look like co-dependency or needy attachment. The _only_ way aura's can meld and dissolve into one another is- - - -"

"I know but that rotten Uchiha is no good for Hinata. He's way too hard headed and prideful. Who knows if he'll even come back," Tsunade murmured with a small quirk of her lips.

Sasuke Uchiha was a vessel of darkness and hatred while Hinata Hyuga was all innocence and kindness. They were the complete opposite of each other and Tsunade couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that they could become romantically involved like this.

 _Well, what do you know, opposites really do attract._

She had always thought that Hinata would be with someone more... _normal_. Like Naruto- -Who was she kidding? Both Naruto and Sasuke were not normal. These two males were in a league of their own. Their capabilities blew other nins out of the water. Naruto was bright like the irritating burn of the sun in your eyes while Sasuke was darkness and decay. Naruto seemed like the better choice for Hinata, but the stupid nin had messed up big time from his oblivious attitude towards everything except for Sakura.

 _What an idiot,_ she mused.

"I've never seen him look at _anyone_ the way he looks at her. You saw for yourself how delicately he handled her. If it was _Sakura_ (Sorry Sakura), I doubted he would have even _cared_ ," Kakashi stated rather calculatingly before taking another sip of the sake, "I know for a fact that Sasuke _will_ come and there's going to be a big storm coming with him, especially if it includes Hinata."

"If that's the case, then you know there will be more headaches coming, especially from Sakura and Naruto. Perhaps the whole town will go up into flames. Who's going to clean up the mess if not for us?" Tsunade set her cup down and opted to drink from the whole bottle. She was not a therapist and she definitely did not want to figure out relationship problems, especially one that involved that Uchiha brat and shy Hyuga. That type of work was cut out for someone else, not her.

 _What a headache!_

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Kakashi grabbed the report and set it down, flipping the yellow folder open to the report about the evil woman and the dark staff that Hinata had described.

"You need to send some Anbu's out to investigate those women and see if there's anymore of them. They could be a danger to Konoha if they are still alive," Tsunade grumbled under her breath.

"I know." Kakashi grabbed the sake bottle from Tsunade's hand and quickly downed it.

"Hey! That's my sake!"

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In another part of town, two men sighed out heavily as they stared at the silent Hyuga heiress seated not too far away from them.

 _Hinata had changed._

Shino and Kiba had noticed the change in their team mate and comrade way before anyone else had, but they had no clue what they could do to help.

Her shining, happy and innocent mien had completely changed now. No longer that innocent always smiling Hinata Hyuga who trudged through everything with a bright smile. No longer that girl who optimistically looked at everything even as everyone put her down.

Hinata barely spoke to them now.

Her eyes were dull with a hint of sadness and _longing_ that seemed to grow as the months gradually passed. She was always searching for something around them, eyes always roaming around, bright aura always reaching out for something yet drawing back in disappointment each time.

 _What was she looking for?_

It was confusing for them both.

Hinata always held her emotions on her sleeves, anyone could tell what she was thinking with just one look her way, yet they could no longer do that. She remained distant and rarely spoke out of line. The smile she carried on her lips no longer reached her eyes and nothing they did could make her happy anymore. Pretty flowers, herbs, even her favorite food was received with a hollow ' _thank you_ ' that didn't even seem heart felt.

When she said she was ' _fine_ ', they were assured that she was _not_.

Dejected, lonely, and _broken_.

When was the last time they saw a _real_ smile on her lips? A smile that brightened her face and lit up her eyes? A smile that meant she was truly happy?

Shino had asked multiple times what had happened when she was captured by those wretched woman but she had always shied away from the topic. Hinata always reassured him that nothing had happened other than a little bit of torture but Shino and Kiba knew that not to be the case. Could the extreme torture create such mental damage and change in personality?

 _What could have killed off that bright light in her eyes and darkened her innocent soul?_

She had said that she had managed to run away when those women weren't looking but they clearly didn't believe her. They had fought those women themselves and knew that there was no way that was even possible with Hinata's skills at the time. Not that they wanted to underestimate Hinata's abilities, but they knew for a fact that she was _lying_.

Hinata had been returned broken to the point that they feared there would be no repair but here she stood before them, physically healthy and well. Mentally, they were not too sure.

They knew it had not been rape as they have seen many cases of that and Hinata did not show any of the signs typical of being sexually assaulted. Hinata did shy from touch now and then, but was not traumatized by it. Perhaps it had been something close to that and terrifying enough to extinguish the light in her eyes.

Shino and Kiba only wanted to _help_ but the more they pushed her, the further the gap between them became. There was a slight strain and the atmosphere seemed rather strange when the three came together to train with each other. The awkward attempts at conversation on Kiba's part seemed to make the tension seem more prominent and Shino and Kiba always felt like they walking on eggshells around Hinata. They feared saying something that could anger or embarrass her and make her burst into tears.

"Girls are so hard to figure out." Kiba sighed out as he picked up the fallen shuriken from the practice grounds, slowly brushing off the dirt on the sharp edges.

Both men turned their heads to watch their silently sitting comrade in the shade, caressing the edges of her shirt with a dejected expression on her pretty face.

Both sighed and went back to practicing.

What they both didn't know was that they won't have to wait for too long. They were going to quickly realize what it was Hinata was always searching for while she was with them.

One can only wonder what their reaction would be when they found out the thing that Hinata was looking for was actually a _person_. A brooding, dark, and lethal man whose name brought terror to many out there and went by the name of _Sasuke Uchiha_.

Would they be able to swallow down the results that they wanted to find or would they keel over in a dead faint? The possibilities are endless.

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"Hinata-chan are you okay?" Kiba softly asked the ex-heiress as Shino and him escorted Hinata to the heiress ceremony. He watched her smiling lips waver slightly at his question, just by that slight reaction he could already tell how she actually felt.

"I'm fine. I'm truthfully very happy for Hanabi." Hinata had admitted this year's ago because she knew that no matter how hard she tried, there was _always_ going to be a day when everything she had would be taken away.

 _The day had finally come_.

It hurt but she will walk with her head raised and a bright smile on her lips. Hinata wasn't going to cry and let her father belittle her any longer, she had already been there and done that.

If she didn't marry out of the main house to Rennosuke or anyone for that matter, she would be forced to have the caged seal put on when Hanabi turned 18. Which is only in 2 years.

She was truly very happy for Hanabi from the bottom of her heart, even if it meant that she would have to be marked with the caged seal after this, even if it meant becoming a branch family member. Hanabi was strong, smart, cold, and calculating enough. She was the _best_ candidate to rule the clan. Hinata did not know another person more fitted to the heiress title than Hanabi ever would be.

But Hinata could only pray that Hanabi would reform the clan and the separation between clan members once the younger girl became the clan leader. She hoped that Hanabi will create a better Hyuga for the generations after them so that the Hyuga compound wouldn't be as suffocating as it is now.

The sound of loud clapping dragged her out of her thoughts when lavender eyes glanced at the raised stage where Hiashi, Hanabi and the Hyuga council stood.

Hinata watched as her father and the clan council announced the new heiress to all the citizens of Konoha. She watched as her own title was revoked and given to her younger sister, watched the proud expression fill her father's usually stoic and cold face when he introduced Hanabi.

 _What can she do when what she did was not good enough? When she was not good enough?_

She could hear the people around her talk about her as if she didn't exist. Perhaps, they didn't care if she heard or not because her opinion no longer mattered now that she had lost such an honorable position and title in the Hyuga household.

"Hiashi finally made his move. Removing the title from Hinata and handing it to Hanabi instead. Good move on his part." The older Hyuga woman applauded, barely glancing at Hinata as she talked.

"Hanabi is more fitted to the role, don't you think?" Someone else commented.

"Hinata is _too weak_ to be the clan leader anyways."

Their words resounded loudly in her head and she found it hard to retain the soft smile on her lips. She realized that she wasn't welcome anymore as when she was still the heiress. Not that it made such a big difference anyways.

Hinata's hands furled into the sleeve of her dark blue silk kimono, willing the tears down with a bright smile on her lips, albeit the smile seemed slightly more forced and fake now.

"Don't listen to them, Hinata! You're one of the strongest people I know!" Kiba tried to comfort her; although, he knew that nothing could make her feel any better right now.

 _How can you make someone feel any better when their title and inheritance is being stripped away?_

Hinata nodded along, smiling softly as she slowly moved around the crowd of people watching the ceremony. Her steps did not falter, her head was raised proudly, and the calm smile remained no matter what people said and no matter what her father did.

Was she resentful? Angry? Irritated? _No._

She was done being angry at her father, done being angry at the unfair world and most of all, she was done blaming herself for not being good enough.

If they couldn't see the good in her then she didn't need to keep pretending to be someone she wasn't. Hinata Hyuga received her final closure the moment she lost her title. She didn't need a title to prove herself. She didn't need her father's approval to prove her worth.

If he didn't want to treat her with respect than she didn't need to continue striving to compete for his fatherly affections. Hinata was tired already.

 _She was done._

Shino and Kiba had stopped to talk to Lee and Shikamaru when Hinata had slowly made way to the Hyuga gardens, her empty expression seemed to make the smiling facade crack slightly under the pressure.

Her wooden geta clapped along the ground as she walked in a slow rhythm, slender fingers curled into the sleeve of her kimono while lips finally lost that forced smile.

The Hyuga gardens used to carry only one type of flower that had silver petals a like to the bland color of Hyuga eyes, until Hinata changed that. The _only_ thing that she had managed to change throughout the years that she lived in this suffocating compound.

Roses, hydrangeas, lilies, daffodils, daisies, delilahs, carnations, chrysanthemums, tulips, and much much more. The array of colors and flowers filled the whole garden in bright vivid hues of the rainbow.

Would they let her keep the garden this way? Or will they revoke her only bit of happiness in these grey walls?

Just as her fingers brushed along the petals of a pink peony, _Hinata completely froze_.

Long sooty lashes fluttered in disbelief, hands trembling in her surprise while she tried to recollect herself; although, her heart wanted to burst out of her chest with each throbbing beat.

Calm down.

 _Calm down, Hinata._

She reached her aura further out, hesitantly and hopefully, until the darkness of another wilder much more consuming aura tentatively brushed against her own like the sting of electricity. The slight burn of lightning and fire, the dark and vast powerful aura that she would never dare to forget.

 _Sasuke._

 _It had to be Sasuke!_

Hinata's heart jumped to her throat, tempted to drop all logical thought in order to abide to instinct. The need to see him was imminent and so she dropped everything to run to him.

Hinata tossed off the outer coat of the traditional Kimono and kicked off the wooden sandals to aid in speed when she ran as fast as she could towards the location of the dark aura.

She was afraid he would disappear before she could reach him!

Her long obsidian colored hair fell loose from the carefully styled bun when the pins came un-done from the jostling. The long kimono split along the sides, waving frantically while her long hair fluttered in the wind the faster she jumped.

Chakra channeled to Hinata's feet, fast rapid spurts of energy gathered into the soles of her feet like an adrenaline rush. The soaring high of finally finding what she was searching for caused rivulets of adrenaline to coat her entire body. She leapt from the high walls meant to keep people out of the Hyuga compound yet trapping so many innocent souls inside. Hinata was not going to be another lost soul trapped within the high walls of the Hyuga compound, she promised herself that she would never let herself be another puppet to the Hyuga command.

A happy smile threatened to tear her face, a smile that reached into the deep depths of her usually empty eyes. Her breathing became baited, excitement made her jittery from the thought of seeing him again.

She had decided.

If Sasuke wasn't going to come to her, she was going to run to him.

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A/N : Aaaaaa! I'm super excited because next chapter is the long long long awaited reunion! Are you guys excited too?! I'm trying to get all my ideas out so these next chapters won't be edited!


	20. Chapter 20 : Back

Chapter 20 : Back

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Long blue black hair waved in the wind when the ex-heiress jumped from tree to tree in her rush for speed.

Her silken kimono was no longer neat and tidy like it had been minutes before her ascent into the trees. There were long scratches that marred the surface of the once pristine silk from long branches that had caught when she ran past. Several tears started to appear when the delicate fabric had brushed sharp thorns and jagged branches.

She had barely avoided tripping over an overgrown bush to leap back into a tall tree when the corner of the kimono dragged her back forcefully until the fold tore from the intensity of her leap. Hinata was quickly reminded why ninja's didn't wear kimonos or nice clothes on missions or fights. The fact that she was running in this heavy kimono made it even harder than it needed to be. Her bare feet were already scratched and scuffed from the long run and force for speed. Hinata didn't care for all of the scratches and cuts that appeared on herself and the expensive clothing because all of her attention was focused solely on one person.

 _Sasuke Uchiha._

The closer she got to the source of her excitement, the more frantically her heart palpitated.

 _Nothing could stop her now._

As Hinata reached a small meadow just along the out skirts of Konoha, she could feel his entire aura caress along her own before she could actually _see_ him. The reassurance and knowledge that he was _here_ now made her mind come to a complete halt.

The dark shadowed figure that stood underneath the afternoon sun caught her complete attention and the sound of the slight breeze and her gaspy breathing was all that she could hear. His whole body was engulfed in black and Hinata felt her heart stutter a beat at just the outline of his body.

This was the first time that her eyes laid onto his masculine form.

The first time that she could actually _see_ him.

Sasuke was very tall with a slim build that made a lot of people overlook his strength but Hinata knew better. The dark clothes hid his extremely built physique underneath them. Strong biceps, hard abs, and broad shoulders were carefully concealed from prying eyes. Hinata knew he liked his privacy more than any other male she knew and somehow she liked it that way.

By the time she came to a stand still, Hinata was shaking terribly. She opened her eyes wide to memorize everything that she saw and her heart seemed to skip a beat when he turned his head to her.

 _Time slowed._

Hinata deemed this to be the most, if not the _only_ , happiest moment of her life.

Black eyes that were vast and mesmerizing caught her vision first. Sasuke was extremely handsome, she mused as the heat started to climb up her neck and to her cheeks.

Her lungs seemed to collapse at just the sight of him, just at the thought of him being here within reach.

He looked like a dark God with the power to render her helpless with just one look her way. She traced his face with her eyes, marveling at his masculine and sharp jawline, tall aristocratic nose, thin pale lips and high cheekbones. Hinata could see the slight stubble forming on his chin, along with how weary and tired he looked. Perhaps, it was from long travel or lack of sleep, Hinata wasn't too sure.

 _What had he been up to for so long?_

Hinata lost her footing, plummeting downwards like a falling bird from the sky to her extreme embarrassment.

Why was she always such a klutz in front of him? If she wasn't falling over, she would be getting beaten down or sobbing like a mess in front of him. It seemed like he was always seeing her at her worst. When could she actually manage to look her best in front of him?

Rolling around, Hinata quickly managed to land on her feet before Sasuke could come to her rescue, cheeks blushed red in frustration at herself.

Hinata quickly patted down the long kimono and her crazy hair, preening herself for him when she didn't even know why she had to do that. He's already seen all of her worst moments and still chose to come to her so that had to mean something, right? Him coming back was all that mattered to her and just the thought of that made her chest feel warm.

They stood barely 3 yards apart, staring at each other with an unwavering gaze. Neither wanted to breach the comfortable silence and Hinata was torn between deciding what the first thing she wanted to tell him was. There was too many things that she wanted to tell him!

Sasuke could feel the corner of his lips quirk, a mock smirk when he actually wanted to smile. Her cheeks had blushed endearingly, long lashes covering lavender eyes from his view in her embarrassment when she bit down on her bottom lip slightly in nervousness.

 _Hinata loved his smirk._

It made him seem even more playful and mischievous compared to the emotionless expression that was on his face before she showed up.

"Sasuke," she whispered. Hinata feared disrupting this magical moment between them, eyes bright as they glitter before his vision like white pearls.

 _She could see him now._

The tears shimmered and wet her sooty lashes in crystalline drops that tremble like the ripples in the ocean. She didn't know why she was crying but it surely wasn't because she was sad.

They were obviously tears of _happiness_.

"Still so clumsy even with your vision back, Hinata," he stated the words lazily, deep voice gravelly and husky to her ears like velvet or silk.

How many nights had she _dreamt_ of hearing his voice again, of feeling his warmth so close to her?

Her hands itched to reach out and touch him, to make sure he was real and in front of her instead of just a dream that she had weaved. How many times had she envisioned his features, wove a genjutsu to see him again?

Hinata came even closer, a soft hopeful smile on her lips that seemed to brighten her whole face. Her wide happy smile caused her wide pretty eyes to form crescents, making her seem even more ethereal. She took a step forwards, kimono separating as she walked to show delicate ankles and pale moon kissed skin peeking out at every step.

How could she have been so blinded by Naruto that she completely overlooked a man like Sasuke?

Hinata couldn't believe that those lips were the same ones she had kissed and those arms were the same ones that had held her for nights on end. Before her mind could catch up with her body, she had practically leapt into his arms in smooth practiced movements as if she had done this hundreds of times. Perhaps during the time they were together, she has probably hugged him more times than she count.

Her slim arms wrapped around his waist, hugging him intimately to her petite body to feel his warmth seep through the thick kimono and to her skin. Hinata's delicate tapered fingers clutched his dark shirt, afraid he would push her away. And even _if_ he pushed her away, she would still cling tightly to him and hang on because she didn't want it any other way.

He was just as warm and comforting as she remembered and she couldn't help the pleased sigh that left her soft lips on immediate contact.

"I missed you," she whispered, tipping her head upwards to gaze at his face with an endearing and adorable expression on her face that seemed to melt away the bit of iciness still left inside of him at the thought of anyone touching him. Her touch did not disgust him like many others had, instead, it felt as if she was cleaning away every bit of dirt and abasement off of his skin. She made him feel light and clean again, as if those disgusting women's touch had never marred his flesh to begin with.

"Hn." He grunted a familiar reply as she grinned impishly. She hadn't expected him to say the words back but just that slight grunt seemed to mean that he felt the same or at least she _wanted_ it to.

His dark gaze seemed to make her skin tingle and Hinata suddenly realized that she adored everything about him.

His handsome face, rugged appearance, and even the many scars that littered his body. The nights that they laid together, her fingers had always trailed to the marks on his body, tracing them unconsciously as if to ease the pain he must have felt. Her fingers would run along his flesh over and over again and Hinata itched to do the same thing once more.

Suddenly, Sasuke pulled Hinata closer until her blushed cheeks pressed against his chest, almost as if he regretted being unable to bring her even closer to him, if that was even possible. Her long lashes fanned across her cheeks, soft button nose rubbing against the cotton of his shirt and she inhaled his fresh scent. Open forest and rain, lightning, smoke, and the burn of fire tingled against her flesh and coated her entire being.

 _She had missed this more than anything in the world._

Sasuke smirked, watching her pretty pink lips part in a happy sigh against his chest, long dark lashes fluttering appreciatively against his skin as if being in his arms was her sanctuary, her only happy place.

It seemed she really did miss him like how he had constantly thought of her. Like how just the thought of her made his heart beats uneven, made him lose that control of his rising emotions like a teenage boy with a forbidden crush on his teacher. No one has ever made him _feel_ like she has and he doubted that there would _ever_ be anyone else that could make him feel this way.

Hinata tipped her head back and said something to him but the words seemed to be lost to him. Her lips glistened in his vision, plump and firm, soft and sweet. They called to him when she had lifted her head to grin up at him and he could see his image replicate in her shimmering eyes like a shining mirror. Then, she pouted prettily up at him, pausing in between her words when she realized that he wasn't paying attention. Just one look into his eyes and onto his face and she could tell that his mind was elsewhere.

 _What could he be thinking of while he was holding her?_

Sasuke smirked slightly at her cute pout and was tempted to pinch her blushed cheeks.

 _He really couldn't resist her after all._

With that last thought, Sasuke dipped his head downwards and enveloped Hinata's pouting lips with his own. At first, softly and delicately as if to savor the feeling of his lips against hers. He wanted to memorize the softness of her lips and the sweetness of her taste for as long as he could because he feared it would be taken away from him.

His warm tongue smoothed across the surface of her soft bottom lip, nibbling it to encourage Hinata to part her lips for him and she smiled into his lips before her own plump one's easily parted enough for his tongue to enter.

His warm calloused hands found her jaw, lifting her head upwards for easier access to her soft warm mouth and he felt the time stop moving at this exact moment. Sasuke's tongue tangled with her own, battling hers with a passionate fiery that left her chest aching for more. The wet erotic sounds of their lips meeting caused Hinata's cheeks to flush but that did not stop her from reciprocating his kiss.

Soon, their breaths came out slightly harsher, mouths melded together in a dance as old as time.

And Hinata could feel her lips tingle, breasts heaving as she lost track of reality. She could barely even remember her own name; none the less, where she currently was. Her whole thought process had been consumed by Sasuke and she didn't want it any other way.

Sasuke was kissing her so passionately that she was left breathless, clinging to him bonelessly as she gasped for breath when he finally let go of her mouth. This was way more different from their kisses before because she could feel his feelings, his urgency and his passion like a fire burning infinitely between them.

Hinata knew for certain that she was kissing him back with just the same fervor and urgency, pressing her body against his until there were no gaps between them because she couldn't stand to be apart from him.

She parted her lips to pant for breath when she felt Sasuke kiss the corner of her mouth, sweeping his tongue across her tingling lips until the unconscious moan had poured from her kiss swollen lips like a prayer. Before she could say anything, Sasuke had firmly pressed his mouth back to hers in another passionate kiss.

Their bodies moved in unison, arms wrapped tightly around each other, and mouth firmly attached under the warm glowing afternoon sun.

What a wonderful ' _welcome back_ ' gift.

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The tree yards away from them rustled when Hinata's comrades came to a stand still.

Shino and Kiba had noticed that Hinata was missing moments ago and they had immediately went to search for her. They were afraid that Hinata would get too depressed and do something she would regret. Both men did not want anything to happen to their dearest comrade, neither could stand just the thought of her hurting.

The bugs that Shino sent out were frantic, searching every nook and cranny for the ex-heiress before catching scent of her traveling at intense speeds towards the outskirts of Konoha.

 _They had found her._

Shino and Kiba had quickly trailed the young woman, chasing relentlessly until they came to a stand still at the absolutely stunning turn of events before them.

The shocking scene before the two males had them completely frozen in disbelief and terror.

Shino and Kiba could barely conceal their sharp intake of air when they noticed who it was standing in front of their innocent team mate.

 _Uchiha Sasuke._ The lethal and dangerous nin whose name brought fear and terror to many out there.

The tall male with a murderous aura that could not be contained was only a couple of feet away from their comrade! The feeling of death, decay and blood poured from the male in rivulets and they both feared that he would attack.

Before they could even comprehend what it was that they were seeing, both males watched their pale eyed comrade jump into the last Uchiha's arms as if this was the most normal thing in the world to do. Their eyes had almost popped out of their sockets at the sight before them.

Hinata was hugging Uchiha Sasuke and he was _letting_ her!

Shino and Kiba were both holding onto their breath, waiting to see if they needed to go to Hinata's rescue if Sasuke happened to attack but their thought process had slowed immensely at the oddity before them, neither knew what to do. The last Uchiha hadn't chidoried her off like they feared and instead, strong arms returned the hug much to their immense surprise. The stupefied expression on Kiba's face could not be removed no matter how hard he tried.

After both males collected their thoughts, they made a move to intervene when a third person had shown up and stopped them with a heavy hand on their shoulders, leaving them unable to move from the spot.

The Hokage, Kakashi Hatake, stood behind them, silently shaking his head before staring pointedly at the scene before them.

They all watched Hinata clamber up on the last Uchiha with a wide smile on her face, cheeks blushed adorably and eyes forming crescents from how wide her smile was.

 _A true smile._

A smile that reached into the depths of her pale eyes, one that neither Shino or Kiba had seen from her in months. Was Hinata crazy? This is _Uchiha Sasuke_ that they are talking about here! The blood crazy monster and evil traitor, _Sasuke Uchiha_!

 _The_ Sasuke Uchiha!

They had thought the hug was surprising enough until the Uchiha had dipped his head and kissed their team mate soundly on the mouth.

The three men could not comprehend what it was that they were seeing.

Kiba was in _shock_. His mouth was agape, eyes wide open, and he had seemingly turned to stone. The only thought that whirled around in Kiba's mind was that, was this an alternate universe that he had stepped foot into? There was no way that this could be happening in real life because if it was actually real, he must have taken some weird drug and this was a drug induced illusion.

That _had_ to be it.

 _Otherwise, there was no way!_

Shino had to take a step back in astonishment, the sharp intake of air was not missed from the usually calm and cool male.

 _When had Hinata become so intimately involved with the Uchiha?_

That was his first thought.

The two had barely even glanced at each other; none the less, talk to each other and yet it seemed that their relationship had progressed out of everyone's conscious control.

Kakashi was not as shocked but seeing his cold pupil actually kiss Hinata with such wild passion, that resembled some scenes from his Icha Icha Paradise books, was _still_ surprising. Who knew that Sasuke had it in him? Who knew that someone so cold and emotionless could be so hot blooded and passionate?

Kakashi didn't, but this clearly confirmed everything in Kakashi's mind. This was not a strange attachment like Tsunade had thought, this was something completely solid and irrevocable once bonded. Someone smart like Kakashi knew for certain that there was nothing anyone could do to stop the bonds that tightened around Sasuke and Hinata like a strong vice.

Kakashi returned his gaze to the two when Sasuke's head slowly lifted away from Hinata's, dark eyes narrowed like a scary predator in the direction of the three hiding eavesdroppers.

The strong glare caused their skin to crawl. He _knew_ they were there, had _known_ the moment that they had stepped foot into the meadow.

Kiba swallowed a mouthful of saliva, moving forwards as if to approach the pair but had to stop abruptly when Sasuke immediately bent downwards in a quick motion. Strong muscled arms lifted the petite woman into his arms as if he had known of Kiba's attempt to approach and had wanted to stop the male from coming any closer.

The Uchiha said something to Hinata when she smiled brightly up at him in response and her arms circled his neck. She reached upwards, long pale swan like neck stretching beautifully when she kissed his chin as he propelled them upwards into the sky at an incomprehensible speed.

The last kiss instigated by Hinata made their mouths drop open again.

 _When had their Hinata-chan become so bold?!_

At the two's departure, the silence in the clearing was almost deafening. The sound of birds chirping and wind rustling the leaves was nothing compared to the explosion inside of the two younger males heads.

"It is best if you kept what you just saw to yourself," Kakashi said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

It seemed that Sasuke wanted to show them his ownership of her. His possessive instinct was a lot stronger than Kakashi had thought and the older male doubted that Hinata knew what she was walking face first into. He gave his blessings to the petite woman because Kakashi knew for sure that once the Uchiha had his eyes settled onto something, in this case, Hinata, there was no way that she could walk away from him now.

What _belonged_ to the last Uchiha _remained_ that way.

"B-but, H-Hinata and Sasuke...th-they were- - !" Kiba exclaimed in raw astonishment before stopping midway. There was no way that his brain could process all of this.

What _had_ he seen? What had they all seen?

This must have been a genjutsu.

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A/N : Well... how was that for everyone? Was that a good welcome back surprise for you guys ? Hahah :D


	21. Chapter 21 : Burn

Chapter 21 : Burn

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A soft breeze fluttered the leaves in small rhythmic patterns as the sun slowly started to descend downwards, leaving the sky with swirls of orange and yellow. From Hinata's view, it looked like they were ascending into the beautiful sunset, traveling towards a happy ending of sorts and it left her with a tranquil and relaxed feeling; although, she knew that she shouldn't count her chickens before they hatch.

Happy endings were reserved for most _fairy tales_ and a nin's life was _never_ a fairy tale. Life and death is sometimes only just a _second_ away. And Hinata wanted to treasure every moment that they had together because she didn't know what tomorrow would bring, be it good or bad.

But she did know one thing.

 _She wanted to stay with Sasuke._

Her lips curved into a wide goofy grin as she glanced at her silent companion through long dark lashes, listening to his strong heart beat against her ears.

Although, Sasuke hadn't said a word after they started traveling northwards, the silence was fairly comfortable, as it has always been between them. Usually Hinata was extremely clumsy like a bull in a China shop around other people and the atmosphere was almost 99.9 percent of the time awkward and nerve wracking. One of the only people that she was completely comfortable around was _Sasuke_ , as odd as that sounds.

He made her feel at peace and she was sure that everyone would think her insane if she ever let those words leave her mouth. Most would be running for their lives or avoiding him just at the first sight because he was their _living_ nightmare.

Who in their right mind would feel peace or tranquility in _Sasuke Uchiha's_ presence?

 _Insanity!_

They would probably all point their fingers at her, ridicule her for her disturbed state of mind but Hinata didn't mind in the least.

 _Not if she had Sasuke at her side._

Because she _refused_ to have it any other way.

At that thought, her intricate fingers gripped firmly onto the cotton of his sleeve, chilled cheeks settled against his collarbone while her temple was set onto his neck, where she could feel his heart beat pound fiercely in his arteries like a drum of rhythm against her skin. It seemed so _surreal_ that he was here again.

 _With her._

Hinata had wanted to pinch herself several times to see if she was really dreaming but she was afraid of suddenly awaking to reality. That in itself would be a _nightmare_.

 _And she thought, if this was a dream then she didn't want to wake up._

The wind whipped her long hair back, tangling the long silken strands and brushing along Sasuke's hair with her own, creating a unity of ebony darkness.

Sasuke's speed seemed almost leisurely as he trekked across the land with her in his arms and she was reminded of all the nights that she had spent against him like this. Just his warmth and calming heart beat was enough to make the entire world fade around her until only he stood in the middle with her.

Her spindly arms tightened around his neck, as if to encase him against her so that he couldn't leave her behind again no matter how hard he tried.

At the thought of Sasuke Uchiha, feared and formidable, chained and bounded to her was almost laughable. In actuality, he could break off her arms and toss her aside like a ragged doll if he didn't want to be close to her.

 _But he hadn't._

And Hinata couldn't help but smile wider at the imagery.

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Before long, Sasuke's feet finally touched ground inside the eerily quiet Uchiha compound. The newly rebuilt compound that remained ominously desolate, grim and intimidating. The entire area was exceedingly quiet, except for the sounds of birds chirping and wind rustling the leaves in the trees.

His steady footsteps made way to the big home and stopped as if he was barricaded by an invisible wall taller than himself.

 _This is what is left of the Uchiha legacy._

Bitter laughter threatened to billow out of his thin lips but remained _buried_ beneath the darkness that welled _inside_ of him, trapped and confined in the deepest recesses of _Sasuke Uchiha._

Just like the memories of his clans massacre.

The nostalgic feeling and flashing memories bombarded him like the stormy waves against rocky shores, gradually wearing at the surface until _nothing_ remained. The intervals and intensity varied until he stood completely stock still in front of the closed doors.

Then, he could see _blood_. It dripped down the corners of the door and bled onto the pavement to create magnanimous puddles until his vision was encased in red, completely obscuring his view of reality.

Even the metallic scent was strong and prominent to his nose; although, there was _none_.

His dark eyes stared blankly forwards at the dark wood ingrained with a fan colored in half red and half white.

 _The Uchiha symbol._

 _This was his home._

Hinata worriedly glanced at his still form, feeling how his aura wildly brushed against hers like a blizzard bombarding the surface of the ground until everything froze under its intense surge. His emotions were rampant and it showed in his aura no matter how calm his face or body was.

She lightly tightened her arms around his neck, slowly drawing him from his memories until he finally opened the doors and entered into the dark house with her in his arms.

Then, he paused again.

His dark eyes took in the same surroundings yet he was quick to realize the oddities in his home.

The walls were the same.

Every corner.

Every nook.

Every cranny.

There wasn't a spot that he didn't recognize yet it all seemed so _foreign_ to him.

The furniture had been _replaced_ with modern ones.

All the cupboards filled with items that he knew should _not_ be there.

Random photos he didn't recognize nailed to the wall with fancy trimmed frames.

 _Someone had entered his home._

His jaw clenched as did his free hand at the completely engrossing thought.

"Who?" Sasuke's voice was rather calm but Hinata could definitely feel his suppressed irritation and rage just by the stroke of his dark aura against hers, burning and dangerous like a wild fire.

 _Yet she knew that he would never hurt her._

Strangely, she couldn't blame him for his annoyance and anger. Who wouldn't be upset when foreign people came into their house and fixed everything up without permission from the owner?

If she didn't tell him, she was sure that someone else would have anyways. And Hinata was never one to lie so the words had already found way out of her mouth.

"Sakura-san and Ino-san renovated the compound a while back..." Hinata trailed off, glancing at Sasuke's cool and calm face. The temperature seemed to drop almost -100 degrees just at the mention of the first two names and Hinata felt slightly sorry for the two women whom she had indicated.

She remembered that this renovation had been done not too long after Sasuke had left the town in search of redemption. Sakura and Ino had taken it upon themselves to help Sasuke remodel the entire compound and refurbished all the furniture to their own liking, with little to no help from Naruto.

If Hinata had known, she would have tried to stop them but, unfortunately, everything was already said and done now. At that point in time, Hinata had never been close to Sasuke or Sakura to put herself into the position to defend Sasuke's will. She didn't have _any_ rights and she didn't want to _invade_ Sasuke's privacy without proper permission from him and so she couldn't solely enter his home to help him re-arrange everything. He probably wouldn't have liked that anyways.

And if she remembered correctly, Sakura had even planted a couple of sakura trees in the back.

Hinata grimaced at the thought.

"I want it out, Hinata." His words were dark and ice cold with the ability to freeze anyone down to the core. And Hinata was sure that if they didn't remove everything, Sasuke was going to set it all on fire along with the compound or use it to kill the people who put it there.

Either options seemed very appealing because neither would benefit Sasuke.

"We can move everything outside," she reassured him with a soft touch of her hands against his skin, calmly stroking the back of his neck with the insides of her warm palm in soft repeated motions. And her soothing aura serenely moved against his own raging one, slowly molding against his until he visibly calmed underneath her fingertips.

Consequently, all the furniture and oddities in the house did not remain very long. It was quickly removed and burned outside in a massive fire that Hinata thought would alert the town or cause a forest fire.

But she _doubted_ anyone would pay attention to this area.

Most people avoided this side of town like the Black Death Plague. Anyone who walked past made sure to avoid the home by several yards in deference to the mishap years ago just from the fear of the unknown. Even if they were alerted, perhaps they would even cheer or delight in the fact that the Uchiha compound was being burned down once again.

 _And they wonder why Sasuke had wanted to destroy them all._

She grimly shook her head and followed Sasuke to the back of the compound, biting down on her bottom lip in contemplation if she should tell him about the sakura trees. Yet the words barely had a chance to leave her lips when Sasuke had found out himself.

He had stopped in his tracks, gaze narrowed intensely at the row of newly planted trees that he obviously did not recognize nor wanted to recognize.

And the irritation was suffocating when he had uprooted the trees with his bare hands as if it was Sakura's neck and burned it down to a sooty crisp until there was nothing left in the back yard.

Even the grass was charred and burnt in the mass array of fire before Hinata had finally put it out with a water jutsu in case they really did start a conflagration of some sorts.

By the time that they were done, the entire living area was cleared out except for certain rooms in the house that had not been touched by Sakura or Ino.

Thankfully, Sasuke's room had been one of the ones left alone. That was possibly done in fear of his vengeful wrath and sure enough, no one wanted to be on his black list.

It was oddly empty in the house now and Hinata found herself standing in the middle of the desolate living room next to Sasuke. She calmly waited with him, letting him take in the new yet different surroundings as long as he wanted, fingers managing to slowly entangle with his own in a soft hold.

 _She didn't fear rejection anymore because they were way past that now._

His long tapered ones enclosed around hers, fitting them into the gaps between her delicate hands when he finally dragged himself out of the gaping hole in his heart.

Sasuke's dark eyes swept across Hinata's silk swathed form.

Earlier, when he finally took in the full picture, he had been surprised at her color choice.

 _Blue_ and _red._

The expensive silk kimono glittered from the sunlight in shimmering sparkles, shining before his eyes. There were white and yellow chrysanthemums and butterfly patterns across the sleeves and along the bottom of the kimono with a vermilion obi in the center.

The blue brought out her moon kissed skin while the deep vermilion obi was a great contrast to the dark colors. Hinata looked like she _belonged_ here in the Uchiha compound even more than he did.

 _She was wearing his colors._

And he didn't seem to mind in the least.

In fact, he couldn't think of _any_ other woman _fit_ to wear his colors on their body.

"I like your color choice," he said, the corner of his lips tipped upwards into a sinfully decadent smirk when he saw her pretty cheeks blush a tad darker in embarrassment. She shyly buried her face into his arm, choosing to ignore his blatant tease at her choice in outfit.

Truthfully, she didn't quite know why she chose to wear this kimono and obi ensemble today. Probably just to spite her father and rebel in the only way that she could without bringing harm to the Hyuga name.

But then again, she was sure that she had already been there and done that.

And Hinata had discovered that there wasn't much that scared her anymore. In fact, her worst fear, Hiashi, was just another road block now that she found herself willing to briefly encounter before walking around. He didn't rule her every action with his ideology any longer because she chose to disregard his constant compulsion for control of her and her life.

The person that was in charge of her life was herself.

If she wanted to be with Sasuke, then she won't let _anyone_ become their road block. Not if she could help it. But the only problem was that she didn't know what _Sasuke_ was thinking.

 _Did he want to stay?_

 _With her?_

She didn't ask in fear of the answer and had been prolonging it for as long as she could but the words had already made it out of her mouth before she could stop them.

And Hinata came to realize that she had become so comfortable with him that there were no qualms in speaking her mind.

"Are you staying?" She murmured lightly against the cotton of his shirt, body firmly pressed against his arm as if he was her only anchor to the world.

Sasuke had wanted to avoid the question but the hopeful look in her eyes made him _want_ to lie; even though, he was _never_ one to falsely state his opinion in any matter. There was never a need to.

If they didn't like what he said or chose to disregard his warnings, he could just simply _kill_ them.

"I don't know." He finally replied with a firm thinning of his lips at the deplorable thought of staying in Konoha for the rest of his lifetime.

 _He lied._

Sasuke _did_ know and his intentions were not to stay in Konoha; even though his actions may seem otherwise.

He had come solely _one_ reason and this reason was standing right next to him with a wide adorable smile on her petal pink lips.

Sasuke was going to leave in due time, but not without one _Hinata Hyuga_. Regardless of what may obstruct his way, he will remove them all effortlessly.

Although Hinata is a variable that he can't control, he had other ways to persuade her and he was sure that it would work if he deployed a viable strategy.

Sasuke never walked face first into anything without the careful planning of every step and detail.

He did realize that when it came to her, all his defenses and barriers came shattering down in an array of smoke and light. She held him together in the moments where his sanity wanted to abandon him and she was the only person who had managed to calm the darkness inside of him until he was just a mortal man at her feet.

 _And Sasuke wanted to capture her light._

What he wanted, he took. When did he have any _remorse_ for what _anyone_ else felt?

And because he wanted to keep Hinata, he would take her with him.

 _Willing or not._

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A/N : I don't know what about the last chapter gave people the impression that this story is finished but... it's not. There are a lot of unresolved problems and relationship issues in the work so I can't let you guys hang, right? Anyways. Sorry for the lack of updates in these last months. I've been on vacation for a month (no really, I was), family issues (including but not limited to my grandpa passing away), writers block... Long story short... I had extreme writers block...

I've also re-re-re-re-edited this story almost N times now. If you re-read the previous chapters, there might be quite a bit of change. :)

Thank you for the continued support. I read each and every comment and stalk everyone's profile... so beware.

Don't forget to leave me love! It motivates me to write more. :)


	22. Chapter 22 : Beat Down

Chapter 22 : Beat Down

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For the Nth time, Hyuga Hinata found herself thrown off balance, flipping erratically through the air before coming to a crushing halt on the cold hard ground. Her long blue-black hair was matted onto her forehead, sticking to the rivulets of sweat that dripped past her delicate brows and salty on her dry cracked lips.

Even breathing had painfully ceased in her lungs for a split second at the burn of her ribs crushing major organs downwards from the hard fall.

Hinata gasped in a sharp intake of breath similar to a drowning person breaking through the surface of the vast ocean waters for the first time.

 _"Get up, Hinata."_ Sasuke's words were final, leaving no room for objection as he looked down at her from the tip of his tall nose with an intense gaze that made her _want_ to stand back up.

But all of her muscles protested immensely, aching in several ways that she had never felt them ache before and her legs felt like a pile of mush stacked together on top of her ankles.

Moving seemed extremely painful but that didn't stop her from pathetically trying to turn herself around and crawl up from the ground when his katana came down on her head by almost several inches. Hinata barely managed to dodge to the side. A small lock of her long mussed hair was effortlessly grazed off at just the initial touch against the exceedingly sharp blade.

 _Close._

Hinata rolled around off of her back, knee scraping onto the gravel and dirt when he knocked her off of her feet again with a proficient kick against her side that left a sickening crack on impact. She was sent flying back a couple of feet, dragging dirt and gravel up into the air all around until she finally skidded to a complete stop.

Her elbows and shins were completely scuffed up now from the rocks and gravel that grazed her soft delicate flesh.

" _Get up_." His voice was low and gruff against her ears, pulling at her rampant emotions with the way he said the words.

 _Move._

Sasuke's lips purse. His face was completely stiff and cold when he brought the katana down in swift and accurate swipes that could easily take off her head.

If she stood up and continued then that meant that he hadn't been wrong about her. That there was still undiscovered potential in her that won't be wrongly wasted under the Hyuga's guidance and he was sure that under his tutelage, Hinata would be able to surpass any of her powerful predecessors.

"The enemy will not give you enough time to get up before killing you, Hinata."

Sasuke stood impeccably organized in front of her disheveled and beaten form. He hadn't even broken a sweat, yet here she was looking like she had been trampled over by a herd of vicious bulls or knocked off of a extremely rocky cliff only to realize that she had no way to climb back up.

Just the sound of Sasuke's katana coming down was enough to spur Hinata into action again. She bit down hard on her bottom lip before flipping backwards and onto her feet in a wobbly stance, trying to gain enough distance away from him and his attacks until she could catch her breath.

But she knew that Sasuke wasn't going to give her a break that easily.

 _There was no mercy._

Before she could jump back, his sword sharply cut through the air, moving towards her when she managed to sway entirely to the left, blocking shakily with a palm of steady chakra that was soon to dissipate from the strength of his powerful blow.

Throughout the fight, Hinata had managed to evade a majority of his fatal attacks. This was rather crucial in their training because there was not many who had managed to avoid just the might of Sasuke's power without coming out dead or mentally and physically incapacitated.

She was improving.

And at a faster rate than he had thought, especially with a background that hindered more than helped her progress. Hinata relied on the Byakugan far more than was good for her and it was a crutch that she was rather dependent on. Without the Byakugan, her fighting was rather mediocre since she mainly fought in close range and hand to hand combat. Now that she was unable to use her crutch, it was actually helping her become more stronger in other aspects outside of close range attacks.

 _Hinata knew that._

Most of her fighting was done in close range so when Sasuke decided to test her limit, he fought with his sword, causing her to flounder to find ground these last couple of times when they had trained. She couldn't get close enough to deploy any other strategy and was forced to change her fighting style to adapt in order to solidly combat his; although, it was mostly in defense and not attack.

 _It was rather pathetic._

After the first couple of sparring sessions, Hinata had left their training area beaten and bloody to the point that even breathing seemed almost impossible at the time.

She hadn't even managed to land one hit on him, because every single attempt was easily thwarted and he didn't mask how effortlessly he beat her down or blocked her off.

She mainly tried to evade his attacks and came to realize that her chakra control had become impeccable after all of the trouble working with it. Now, no one could possibly surpass her in this field.

Her chakra had fought with her still at the first initial fight before she was slowly given control again because Sasuke pushed her harder than her own chakra had.

And the only thing that she managed to beat Sasuke in was her chakra control. But even with that small advantage, he managed to beat it all out of her; even though, she had much more of it than he did.

 _Sasuke didn't hold anything back._

And because of that, she was actually progressing way more than she ever had. In fact, she couldn't think of anyone that had helped her improve in such short timing the way he had. He was always to the point, even when he was beating her down to a bloody pulp or pointing out simple things that she could do to find a viable attack on him.

Hinata was extremely grateful that Sasuke treated her like an actual nin instead of a porcelain vase like Neji or her team mates had.

And she found it thrilling because it was a _true fight._

He didn't go easy on her like everyone else had and he didn't act like she was breakable like glass or porcelain.

At first when she asked him to train her, Sasuke had not even hesitated when he grunted out a reply that she could tell was of acceptance. He took her training rather seriously and she took his teaching to heart because Sasuke had way more experience than she did. One of Hinata's affinities happened to be lightning but she had little to no knowledge on it compared to Sasuke.

It was interesting that they actually had the same affinity. _  
_

 _What are the odds of that?_

Suddenly, a rather punishing round house kick sent her flying out of her thoughts when she fell onto a thick patch of grass, managing to regain her bearing rather belatedly this time.

 _She was starting to lose focus._

Sasuke glanced at her flushed face, noting the blood that dripped steadily from the corner of her mouth and decided to call it quits for now. With smooth and accurate precision, he finally sheathed his katana and reached a strong hand out towards her fallen form, crumpled on the green grass with a slightly unfocused and misty look in her opalescent eyes.

The only reason why Sasuke pushed her ruthlessly harder was because he _knew_ that she could do it. The stronger she became was because of her own ardent determination. His words were solely there to spur her into action and it was only a small factor in her test of resolve.

 _It was all her doing._

Although Hinata may seem _weak_ and _docile_ , there was a lot _more_ hidden underneath that exterior of elegance and grace. That coating of meek beauty hid her strong willed determination and fierce fighting power behind it in a layer of thin glass that could easily be shattered.

Hyuga Hinata was a raw diamond waiting to be polished. _By_ him and _for_ him.

Only then can she _shine_ and exert out all that she had in an array of bright light that will blind everyone in its path.

 _Yet only for him.  
_

Hinata wiped at the trail of blood on the corner of her mouth before setting her own dainty fingers in his own to which Sasuke easily pulled her to her feet with a slight tug. She could feel every callus on the inside of his palm roughly graze against her own softer skin like grains of sand against the delicate skin of her arms or legs, causing goosebumps to cover her skin in mass amounts.

Sasuke's warmth had transferred just from that simple touch and she could feel his dark aura grazing along hers before merging together with her lighter aura in harmonious unity.

It was a _realistic_ feeling and it make her come in terms with the fact that this wasn't just a dream.

 _It was real._

 _Sasuke Uchiha was real._

Her tapered fingers tightly curled around his and she could feel a giggle bubble up her throat at a weird thought that had managed to worm its way into her head.

It was funny how one minute they were passionately kissing and the next, she would be flying into the air from a hard punch he sent her way.

 _Hm.  
_

That didn't sound right.

The sentence made Sasuke seemed prominently _abusive_ of her which isn't the case.

Because, technically, she asked for it.

 _Wait._

That didn't sound quite right either.

Either way, Sasuke was helping her, not hurting her.

Not literally or physically but mentally. If that made any sense.

Hinata let out a slight frustrated huff, lips pouted slightly as she tried to think of a way to convey her feelings without making Sasuke out to be sadistic abuser and herself into an affirmed masochist.

 _It was almost impossible!_

Sasuke's dark eyes glanced at her self-absorbed pout, the corner of his mouth twitching lightly while watching her ever changing expressions that seemed more entertaining than anything. He picked up a container of clean water set underneath of their designated tree before popping the cap off to pour the cool liquid onto a piece of soft fabric.

The water was quick to wet the fabric, causing the creamy colored cloth to become tan in color once damp.

Satisfied, Sasuke handed the container to Hinata who was quick to take a small gulp of the cool water with her head tipped upwards.

Her long silken hair slid back down her petite shoulders like a shimmering waterfall, skimming the surface of her shirt to reveal an alabaster swan like neck that managed to captivate his dark and intense gaze at the first glance.

 _His Adam's apple bobbed slightly in response._

It was odd that with small inadvertent actions, Hinata had managed to thoroughly hold him enthralled and intrigued by her. From the curl of her plump pouty lips to that flutter of her long and sooty lashes. He had come to realize that everything about Hinata seemed to hold him captive and arouse his desires like no other woman can.

 _Ever._

And this theory had been tested and justified many times in the past.

Everything about Hinata seemed perfectly fit for him. And he took great pride in knowing that _she_ was _his_ , regardless of her lack in knowledge of his claim or not.

Sasuke's gaze remained unwavering on her mesmerizing form, watching as a shimmering droplet of sweat trickled down from her hair line, grazing the fabric of her shirt before disappearing underneath the thick cloth that hid her well endowed body from view.

Hinata wasn't very tall yet her body proportion was perhaps, by far, one of the best that he had seen. Sasuke knew what was hidden beneath all of her frumpy, baggy and over sized clothing. He reveled in the fact that he was, perhaps, the _only_ one to ever know and he wanted it to remain that way.

Hinata was petite but not stick skinny like Sakura who, seemingly, was sometimes all skin and bones. Now that she had recuperated from their captivity and starvation from months ago, Hinata had filled out rather _voluptuously_.

Rounded breasts, tapered waist, and legs that were seemingly long yet attractive.

Hinata was silk and satin under a layer of smooth moon kissed skin. She was toned but not hard and muscular to the touch like some woman he had fought and killed.

Just that firm jut of her rounded bosoms, swaying softly with every inhale and exhale of her breath, had made his throat feel bone dry. Without even a suggestive glance from her, his body had hardened in a rather instinctive response that he had no conscious control over.

Lately, his bodily reactions towards Hinata had increased to the point of confusion for him. She didn't even have to do anything and he would become slightly aroused just by her mere presence comfortingly brushing along his own, rubbing against his sensitized flesh until his body burned at the seemingly pleasurable contact.

It was odd.

If any other woman were to strip down naked and walk around in front of him, he wouldn't even bat a lash, because none of them could _ever_ arouse him in that sense. Yet, with Hinata, he found himself out of control and instinctively driven with a passionate desire to mark all of her with his very essence until she was captive under him with no possible escape.

He wanted to consume her like a raging fire through a calm and peaceful forest. Like the rushing waves of a stormy sea crashing against the shores of a tall cliff, wearing away at the rocky edge until it came crumbling down into the waters depths never to be rebuilt in its entirety again.

Because Hinata was his _sanity_.

She was the very last thread that held him together at the frayed and abused seams. One sharp tug or pull would cause the darkness to completely enshroud him in a veil of death and destruction that could only wreak hell's havoc on earth.

And he found that, somehow, he did not want to be _without_ her.

Sasuke didn't merely want to capture her light anymore.

 _He wanted to capture all of her._

He wanted to ensnare her into a trap so enthralling that she would refuse to escape him. And then, he would hide her away so that no other could ever lay their eyes on her again, save for him.

The obstacles in his way were gradually starting to increase in quantity; even though, he knew there to be far more hurdles to jump in the future than was necessary.

 _But Uchiha Sasuke was never one to back down from a challenge._

And two names, in particular, made his list. One was _Hyuga Hiashi,_ head of the Hyuga clan, and the other was _Hyuga Rennosuke_ , a soon to be unfortunate male who will end up six feet under once Sasuke Uchiha was through with him.

The night previous, Hinata had thoughtlessly rambled on about her father and the fact that she had lost her heiress title to her younger sister, Hanabi. Then, her dictator of a father wanted to toss her into an arranged marriage with a man that she didn't love.

Her father wanted her to marry- _he had narrowed his eyes at the thought_ -a perverted male relative.

The thought made his temper rise while rage, _dark_ and _lethal_ , bubbled up against his rib cage in a thrumming of rhythm at the thought of tearing the male who had dared to lay his grubby fingers onto her flesh.

 _Sasuke was a possessive man._

His unconscious need to control and possess was almost suffocating in its encompassing will when it came to Hinata. And he would have eradicated _Hyuga Rennosuke_ off of the face of this earth had it not been for the fact that Hinata wanted to defeat the pathetic man herself.

He respected her wishes but the urge to trample all over the Hyuga male's mangled body was almost unbearable, like the inevitable shadow of the night when the sun fell from its perch in the skies.

In the end, he had managed to refrain himself with just the thought of Hinata's disappointed face if he had killed the male and left her without an opponent to destroy. And he was assured that after all this training, Hinata wouldn't just leave the Hyuga male mangled beyond recognition anymore.

If fact, Hyuga Rennosuke would probably be begging for death after she was done with him and Sasuke couldn't help but feel slightly vain at the idea that he had seemingly managed to _taint_ her with his darkness. Sasuke liked the idea of _corrupting_ her with his very essence.

 _But he couldn't fathom the reason why he chose to back down._

Because he _never_ backed down from a fight, yet her happy smile was enough to keep his dark and morbid thoughts astray.

 _It was unsettling to know that she affected him so immensely._

Sasuke breathed out a deep sigh and smoothly brushed her sweat matted bangs off of her forehead to reveal a rather ugly and appalling gash on her creamy skin. The blood had long dried but it did not make the wound any less gruesome.

It was odd that he could stomach much worse lacerations across his own flesh and uncaring of others, but just the sight of this _mar_ on Hinata's fragile skin made his stomach turn revoltingly.

Sasuke cautiously wiped off the dried blood on her temple with the damp cloth, dark eyes concentrating on the inflamed skin while clumsy fingers softly patted the fabric across the wound. Clumsy because of his lack of experience.

Yet, his touch was extremely delicate against the cut, careful and considerate of her in ways that Hinata had _never_ thought possible in a man of his caliber.

His hands were strong enough to kill her with just a light touch, yet he handled her very delicately with such tenderness that it made her heart ache warmly in return.

Sasuke was not a man of many words, yet his actions spoke louder than anything that he could ever possibly say. She could _feel_ his care and concern in every touch and every heated glance of his dark eyes against her skin.

And she knew that there was never any need for words between them because his every action spoke volumes. Just his mere presence was warm and palpable like a thick cotton blanket upon her chilled flesh in the midst of a freezing winter.

The silence that they basked in was comfortable and that was enough.

 _It was always enough._

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A/N : Quick question. How did you guys find my story(Friend, Fanfiction . net, Wattpad, Tumblr, Etc)? Just asking out of curiosity. Your love is my motivation so don't forget to leave me love :D I enjoy reading everyone's comments because it spurs me to write :)


	23. Chapter 23 : Discovery

Chapter 23 : Discovery

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The sun was gradually going down, casting an orange hue of light when night quickly made its approach in the skies with oncoming darkness. From afar, two tall figures quickly bounded across the rather vacant dirt road's of Konohagakure, one in long winded strides while the other trudged rather un-enthusiastically along with a slightly lazy gait.

"I was delivering flowers out here and you won't believe what I saw!" Ino excitedly exclaimed, waving her hands exxageratedly into the air and motioning towards the chest nut haired male in order to hurry him along. Although, it didn't look like he was interested one bit in investing his time in her latest digression for gossip.

The male blatantly ignored her over-enthused expressions and continued to travel sluggishly before Ino heaved out an exasperated sigh. At the current snail rate of travel that Choji was proceeding with, they might never make it there before the moon comes out. And she knew that he was probably doing this in order to annoy her with his reluctance to come out here.

She sharply tugged Choji's arm, dragging him hurriedly down the long winding roads as if her discovery could disappear at any given moment. And God knows how disappointing that would be.

 _She couldn't be anymore upset at the thought._

Just as they traveled past the forest, further down the road stood the intimidating Uchiha compound in all of its haunting glory, restored to near perfection of its previous distinctive imminence. There was a rather dreary and grim presence that clouded the entire compound with its lack of life and previously macabre history, but Ino was quick to over look this fact.

The only thing that had managed to catch her attention was the light that filtered through the rice paper windows like a haunting glow of color that burst through the grey and black.

 _Light!_

"I _knew_ I saw lights on! I told you!" Ino nearly shouted with an exhilarated expression on her face when Chouji slapped a hand onto her wide open mouth in fear of attracting any unwanted attention. Mainly the attention of one _Sasuke Uchiha_ , if he really _was_ inside of the Uchiha compound at this time instead of traveling around like everyone said.

Ino shot him a narrowrd before stealthily peeling his large hand off of her mouth, grinning widely with eyes sparkling like stars in the night sky while the wheels in her head continued to spin uncontrollably in excitement.

She really couldn't believe her luck!

"Sasuke _must_ be back! I can't wait to see foreheads reaction when she finds out!" Ino laughed excitedly. Her hands clenched into victorious fists at her findings before saying lowly, "But I'm not going to tell her!"

"I think you should quiet down, Ino." Choji warns.

He didn't know why, but he suddenly had a very _very_ bad feeling about letting Ino drag him out here to spy on the Uchiha compound. All that she was going to use this information for was gossip anyways. Nothing important. And Choji knew that she was going to pass it out like the morning newspaper early at the Konoha markets just to get the crowds riled.

 _He was assured of it._

Slightly annoyed, Ino thwarts another attempt of his to quiet her before suddenly swallowing down the last of her laugh when her eyes caught slight movement close to the Uchiha compound.

From the opposite side of the road, an unexpected figure walked briskly along the barren dirt and gravel path carrying a basket of groceries towards the Uchiha gate with a rather sweet smile on her full lips.

The blonde female was quick to note the long blue-black hair that laid in abundance down the woman's back before she finally saw pupil-less lavender-grey eyes and the familiar face of _Hyuga Hinata._

Ino squinted her eyes to assure that she wasn't seeing things, almost double taking when she managed to identify the pretty woman.

"Is that _Hinata_? What's she doing out here?" Ino tipped her head to the sides, contemplating the oddity of the situation with her brows burrowed tightly together in thought.

"Maybe she has something to deliver to Sasuke," Choji replies warily.

Yet contrary to his words, they both had a feeling otherwise.

The gates were closed but the dark haired woman fluidly opened the lock in practiced movements that seemed oddly out of place.

 _How could she had known the way to open the gates so easily like that?_

Even Ino had found it rather tenaciously hard to open when Sakura and herself sneaked in to rearrange Sasuke's house after being egged on by the pink haired friend's incessant goading. It took a lot more effort than what Hinata was deploying and the only way to be able to open the lock so easily is from recurring practice. This odd thought was quickly tossed out by Ino because of its absurdity.

 _Maybe it was just a first timers luck._

The pretty dark haired woman merrily closed the gates behind her in a smooth polite manner and leisurely walked up towards the daunting closed Uchiha doors. From the distance, they both felt sweat drip down their backs in fear for Hinata.

But, both Ino and Choji had hesitated, completely frozen in their spot.

A part of them wanted to stop her from walking face first into a very unpleasant encounter, yet the other part was curious as to what the outcome of this unexpected confrontation between Hinata and Sasuke would be.

In the past, neither one had _ever_ seen _any_ interaction between the two rather quiet and reticent nins. Hinata _and_ Sasuke's names has _never_ left their mouths in the same sentence. It was just something not done because both stood on completely opposite poles of each other and could never be classed together due to significant differences.

It was odd, _really_ , that something like this was unfolding before their very eyes.

But they were entirely sure that what they were about to see is definitely going to be an extremely big and mind blowing event, possibly to the point of a coma inducing shock.

And Ino was, surprisingly, _excited_.

They watched Hinata raised her hand to knock when the door swung open almost automatically before her fingers could even touch the mahogany wood in a rather fast motion as if her presence had been anticipated by the owner of the home.

And standing at the other side of the door was the imposing and notoriously known last Uchiha, practically towering over her delicate form with a glance of dark eyes sweeping across her face.

The tall Uchiha male took the heavy basket from Hinata who was smiling up to her ears without slamming the door in her face like they had thought.

"See. I told you she was delivering someth-" Choji said, trying to quickly brush off both of their assumptions when he was hastily cut off by the Uchiha's peculiar actions that neither had seen coming.

Instead of closing the door after retrieving the basket, Sasuke had turned slightly to leave a larger gap open as if to invite Hinata in with his lazy and leisurely countenance. His cold yet handsome face had tipped downwards to look at the petite cheerful woman while saying something that they couldn't hear or comprehend from this distance.

Yet, the expression on the Uchiha's handsome cold face spoke volumes. It was something that neither of them had _ever_ seen.

 _It was impossible, right?_

They _knew_ Sasuke to be an extremely cold and tenaciously dangerous person yet that slight tip at the corner of his thin lips border lined a smile.

 _A smile!_

It was a _wickedly_ sinful smirk-smile that had nearly _blinded_ Ino's eyes at the initial glance. Even Choji felt slightly astonished and bedazzled by the Uchiha male's minuscule quirk of the lips.

 _Neither moved._

They watched with eyes wide and dilated pupils when Hinata stepped inside the barrier between safety and hellish chaos with that angelic smile deeply ingrained onto her pretty face as if she didn't know or care about all the death and maelstrom associated with _Sasuke Uchiha_.

The ex-heiress placidly removed her shoes when they saw Sasuke drop a pair of purple slippers down for her to slip on with such ease that it completely baffled the two stalkers from afar.

Hinata's smiled seemed to widen even more at Sasuke's actions.

Then, the door closed.

Okay.

Back up.

Why in the hell does _Sasuke Uchiha_ have a pair of fuzzy purple slippers in his house that was _exactly_ Hinata's size? Why did Sasuke even let Hinata enter his private sanctuary when all others were immediately stopped with just a gaze into his dark eyes as he slams the door into their faces? And why did Hinata actually enter his home instead of running away like they had expected?

The magnanimous amount of questions ran rampant in both of their heads like the galloping of a horse through a wide meadow only to realize that it have traveled to the end of a road that happens to be a giant cliff when it's hooves slip off of the precariously shaky bit of land.

 _Impossible._

Both sat frozen in disbelief.

And for once, Ino was stunned _speechless_.

"Choji, _what_ did we just see?" Ino asked lowly, her mouth was slightly slackened from the shock that still coursed through her adrenaline pumped system like a jack hammer to the face in the midst of a heart attack.

Her male companion crossed his arms over his chest and proceeded to rub his chin thoughtfully with dark brows furrowed together into a line.

What _did_ they see just now?

"Maybe Hinata's helping Sasuke with something," Choji tried to elucidate, wracking his brain for ideas that were all shortly scrapped due to how absurd and impractical they were.

How does one go about explaining a strange almost symbiotic relationship between _Sasuke Uchiha_ and _Hinata Hyuga_ that was basically impossible in their eyes?

"I don't think so. Let's stick around for a little bit longer," Ino replied with a prompt click of her tongue.

"We shouldn't dig our own graves and lay in it, Ino. If Sasuke knows, he might just chidori our faces off," Choji said, grabbing onto her forearm, ready to drag her back to town and away from this headache that was starting to form.

 _He didn't want to be emotionally entangled into this dangerous situation._

The blonde woman easily shrugged him off, heels digging into the dirt with an expression that told him how adamant she was on staying here to spy on the two.

 _She was not going to leave._

"Sasuke will know if you get too close. Let's just go," Choji warned, grabbing hold of Ino's arm again when the blonde companion made a move to get closer to the objects of her current obsession.

"Fine. We won't get close but I'm not going back until I get some answers. Let's just stay for a little bit, at least until Hinata comes back out." She then proceeded to give him this rather pouty yet pleading look.

Choji shrugged his shoulders and sighed out before leaning back against the tree, ready to stake out for the sake of gossip and to appease Ino's growing appetite due to her cumbersome curiosity.

And so, in order to not blow their cover, they remained in the distance, carefully gauging any minimal activity from the Uchiha home with serious expressions on their normally cheerful faces. It was as if they were on a rather dangerous and important mission instead of just stalking outside of Uchiha compound, being nosy and all up in Sasuke and Hinata's business.

The first hour went by rather slowly with no sign of the front door opening to show Hinata's departure from the eerie home and Choji had a gut feeling that she wouldn't, not anytime soon anyways.

"I have a very bad feeling, Ino," Choji said with a low tone of voice, brushing a fallen leaf that had stuck to the sleeve of his shirt as he glanced at Ino's huddled figure to his left.

They remained mostly quiet after that, waiting rather patiently while their insides turned as if they were on an amusement park ride for an answer that they knew would be coming.

After another hour, the only lights on in the compound had completely extinguished, casting the entire home into gloomy darkness. The moon had come out, replacing the burning sun by making perch high above them with moon light casting downwards over the peacefully quiet land.

The second hour passed by slowly.

And then, three more hours drifted by.

Before long, Ino and Choji came to a rather disturbing and scary realization when the sun started to approach the horizon in bright blinding light on their frozen faces full of disbelief.

 _Hinata-chan never left the Uchiha Compound._

And from the shadows that casted in the curtains from Sasuke's room, Hinata stayed with Sasuke... in his room... the _whole entire night_.

The knowledge of what they had just discovered almost knocked them unconscious and both were tempted to keel over in a dead faint but had to refrain in case they were discovered.

Choji was the first to recover and had tried to quickly drag his blonde haired companion with him, back from the direction that they had came. In their slight mortified rush, they failed to notice the tall silver haired Hokage who was just at the outskirts of the forest, heading towards the Uchiha compound.

Ino was surprisingly quiet throughout the trek back, still slightly dazed at the prospect of any relationship between the cold Uchiha and the sweet innocent Hyuga girl that they knew.

 _It was unimaginable! Preposterous! Ludicrous!  
_

They must have gone insane for their imaginations to get this far ahead of them!

"Sakura will blow a _gasket_ when she hears about this! I can't _wait_ to let-" Ino excitedly chattered, hands rubbing together at just the thought of breaking the news to a certain pink haired medic and all the chaos that it would ensue.

"Stop it, Ino. You're only going to make things _worse_ for Hinata-chan. Who do you think will have to endure Sakura's hostility?" Choji replied with a stern look on his face.

It wasn't their place or business to be going around telling everyone about Sasuke and Hinata's relationship.

 _It isn't right._

"Bu-you're _right_. I won't tell Sakura," Ino said, lips pursed slightly with a sneaky thought that swiftly passed by in her head that she, _obviously_ , wasn't going to voice.

 _Just because she couldn't tell Sakura, it didn't mean that she couldn't tell anyone else,_ Ino thought with a mischievous purse of her lips.

The _'anyone else'_ happened to be more than a handful of people who came into the flower shop, Tenten, Shikamaru, and Lee.

Lee, out of everyone, happened to be the bearer of good news. The green jump suit clad male was known for his rather wide mouth and interest in all things good. So, _of course_ , she had to tell him of all people.

"Lee! You will not _believe_ what I just saw!" Ino exclaimed after catching sight of the male from afar, quickly marching up to him and started to chat away like the flapping wings of a flying bird after she had managed to leave Choji behind with the pretense of going to work.

Her excitement was almost contagious to everyone around, beaming rather brightly like a ray of multi-colored light in everyone's direction.

"You have good news, Ino-chan?" he replied back with a blinding smile of his white teeth and pink gums; although, the rest of him was already a sight for sore eyes.

"Uh-huh! It's _Sasuke Uchiha._ He's _back_ and he has a lady friend with him!"

There.

She didn't say Hinata's name.

So it should be alright to spread a little bit of the gossip with everyone else.

Ino knew that the poor girl might become a target for all of those vengeful fan girls and Sakura's wrath if anyone managed to figure out it was Hinata. But, Ino would bet her left arm that no one could _ever_ guess that this 'lady friend' happened to be shy and innocent little Hinata-chan.

And just the thought of what Sakura could do to poor Hinata-chan made Ino a little apprehensive in spreading the news but she couldn't help the itch to tell everyone she knew.

It was in her blood to be slightly nosy of other people's business.

She couldn't help it.

And knowing Lee, everyone in the town is going to know about Sasuke's return because the over excited male did a mighty fine job of spreading the _'good news'_ to all of Konoha within the next hour.

A lot faster than her expectations.

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Walking lazily along the gravel path was Hokage of Konohagakure, Kakashi Hatake. Today happened to be one of his less busy days, making it extremely leisurely for him to actually take the time to walk this peaceful road further from the loud ruckus and busy town to seek out a certain Uchiha.

His silver hair shined in the bright morning sun when he noted the two familiar figures that hurriedly fled from the scene as if there were ferocious hell hounds on their heels.

It didn't take a genius to know that they had obviously discovered something rather astonishing way out here in the most deserted areas of Konoha. Just that dumbfounded expression on their young faces was enough to justify his assumptions.

He had already known what they could have possibly discovered. It had taken him almost a whole bottle of sake and one night of no sleep to swallow down just the _idea_ of the unlikely _Hyuga-Uchiha_ union.

 _Yet, it was real and existent no matter how drunk he had gotten._

As he stepped closer to the Uchiha compound, the large gates at the front creaked open to reveal a slightly smirking Sasuke Uchiha with his arms wrapped like protection vices around Hinata Hyuga's delicately petite form.

He didn't have to think to know that the ex-heiress had stayed the night with Sasuke. Just the unbecoming wrinkles on her shirt was enough to clarify the situation and Kakashi didn't _want_ to even think about what that signified.

He wasn't interested in knowing about his student's sex life.

 _He wasn't._

At least that was what he told himself anyways.

Then, he waited until the ex-heiress finally managed to bid her goodbyes after untangling herself from the Uchiha's passionate mouth and arms only to be pulled back in for another seemingly endless kiss.

 _Hot damn._

And finally, after what felt like hours, Hinata left, leaving the last Uchiha standing at the front watching her back before Kakashi bounded up to the gate.

"Sasuke," he called, his voice breaking through the morning silence.

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A/N : I wonder what Kakashi wants with Sasuke now... Hopefully it'll be something excited :) I have a feeling it will be action packed. :) Don't forget to leave me love to motivate me! :D

I'm not too satisfied with the flow of this chapter but it will remain unedited for now until I get time to fix it.


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